Wildlife[/caption]
The first films of the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) were revealed today along with big announcement that the 67th edition will open with the Australian premiere gala screening of Paul Dano’s directorial debut Wildlife – starring Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal and Australia’s Ed Oxenbould. The First Glance selection of 32 films demonstrating MIFF’s expansive reach was also uncovered.
Based on the 1990 Richard Ford novel of the same name, Dano’s debut directorial outing (co-written by Zoe Kazan, seen alongside Dano at MIFF’s 2012 Ruby Sparks) tells a tender and empathetic story about a teen dealing with his family falling apart in 1960s Montana.
A hit at Sundance and Cannes, Wildlife is a bittersweet and elegant debut that represents a major coming-of-age – both off screen and on – for Oxenbould, an actor who broke out in MIFF 2014’s Paper Planes and last year’s MIFF Premiere Fund-supported The Butterfly Tree. Buoyed by exquisite cinematography from Diego Garcia (Neon Bull, MIFF 2016; Cemetery of Splendour, MIFF 2015) the film’s fine-tuned attention to period detail underscores its exceptional performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gSi0Qvki3o
“We are thrilled to announce Wildlife for this year’s Opening Night Gala. Paul Dano’s debut as a director provides a glimpse into a successful shift in his career from on screen to off, and the cast including Australia’s very own Ed Oxenbould (a special name here at MIFF) is an impressive way to kick off proceedings,” said MIFF’s Artistic Director Michelle Carrey.
“This in addition to the sneak peek of the rest of the program is an exciting time. Finally we can start talking about the most important thing…the films!”
This year’s MIFF program will feature more than 500+ screenings, including:
Ethan Hawke features with both on and off-screen contributions: he portrays a troubled priest experiencing a ‘crisis of faith’ in cinematic legend Paul Schrader’s latest feast of brooding menace, First Reformed; in Blaze, Hawke directs a daringly unconventional biopic of an unsung country music legend, featuring newcomer Benjamin Dickey in the title role (which won him a Sundance acting award) and Alia Shawkat.
Chloë Grace Moretz turns in a career-best performance in Desiree Akhavan’s sophomore feature The Miseducation of Cameron Post, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (US Dramatic); Cannes 2017 best actor winner Joaquin Phoenix features in Lynne Ramsay’s vengeance feature You Were Never Really Here, playing a war vet and ex-FBI agent whose new job includes rescuing children from paedophile rings; meanwhile, Bodied is the result of an unlikely pairing between Grammy-winning director Joseph Kahn and rapper turned producer Eminem who present their satirical story about an accidental battle-rap star.
In a variety of filmmaking firsts, acclaimed TV director Michael Pearce makes his feature debut in the sly, unsettling Beast – an impressive British crime drama love story wrapped in an intriguing psychosexual thriller; veteran slow-cinema auteur Tsai Ming-liang makes his debut foray into virtual reality with The Deserted, a 55-minute experience with a wordless, near-feature length tale of ghosts, grief and fish; and a little closer to home, Nash Edgerton’s TV series directorial debut Mr Inbetween brings The Magician’s charismatic killer-for-hire Ray Shoesmith back to our screens. MIFF will screen all six episodes before its television premiere on Foxtel’s Showcase channel.
The 2018 program delves deep into three iconic names spanning fashion, sport and Hollywood, starting with McQueen, a flamboyant portrait of one of the world’s most revered designers, Alexander McQueen – a man who once said “My shows are about sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. It’s for the excitement and the goosebumps. I want heart attacks. I want ambulances.” This biographical documentary by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui represents nothing less.
Julien Faraut’s John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection serves up a fascinating combination of instructional clips and exquisite 16mm footage of tennis bad boy John McEnroe at the height of his career at the 1984 French Open; and looking into the life of another legend, Tommy Avallone’s Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man follows the trail of the star’s alleged appearances musing on the interconnection of pop culture and ordinary life.
An Elephant Sitting Still takes us on a four-hour journey as Hu Bo paints a compelling, empathetic portrait of contemporary China in this FIPRESCI Prize-winning debut; and winner of SXSW’s Grand Jury Prize for documentary, People’s Republic of Desire is Hao Wu’s unsettling and fascinating look into the online world of live-streaming, social media and virtual relationships.
Turning impending loss into a poignant, poetic dreamscape, The Seen and Unseen is the second feature from Indonesia’s Kamila Andini and winner of best youth film at the 2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards; Tigers Are Not Afraid is a stunning contemporary fairytale that does for Mexico’s drug war what Guillermo del Toro did for the Spanish Civil War. Praised by Stephen King, the film saw Issa López become the first woman to win Fantastic Fest’s Best Horror Director award.
Denmark’s Gustav Möller makes his directorial debut with the Sundance and Rotterdam award-winning The Guilty, an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller told entirely in real time.
The UK’s Daniel Kokotajlo makes a devastating debut with Apostasy, a daring study of an all-female Jehovah’s Witness family riven by religious conflict starring Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey and Happy Valley); Babis Makridis proves he is coming into his own as a star with a second feature, Pity. A follow up to L (MIFF 2012), the quintessentially bleak and absurdist Greek New Wave comedy from the co-writer of The Lobster and Dogtooth was co-written with Yorgos Lanthimos’ key collaborator Efthymis Filippou (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, MIFF 2017).
Irreverent Iranian director Mani Haghighi (A Dragon Arrives! MIFF 2016) presents his latest meta-comedy magic, Pig – a riotous Iranian film industry satire about a serial killer; and Vivian Qu continues to interrogate crime, corruption and control in modern-day China in Angels Wear White, which won her the Best Director award at the Golden Horse Film Festival.
Based on Anna Seghers’ WWll novel of the same name, Transit is the slow-burn thriller from revered auteur Christian Petzold – a discomfiting fable of trans-European displacement that channels both Hitchcock and Casablanca; and one of contemporary cinema’s most esteemed directors Lucrecia Martel makes her long-awaited return with the historical fiction Zama, centred on an 18th-century Spanish magistrate marooned in a far-flung South American outpost where he’s losing touch with civilization and sanity.
Spaghetti Western, ’70s Euro-pulp and delirious psychedelia collide in Let the Corpses Tan – a glorious homage to cinema’s seedier retro fringes from genre connoisseurs Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani; audiences will step back in time to the French fashion scene with legendary fashion photographer William Klein’s award-winning black and white mockumentary that is now a groovy cult classic, Who are you, Polly Maggoo? and nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2018 Academy Awards, The Insult is the multi-award winning new work from Lebanese visionary Ziad Doueiri (The Attack, MIFF 2012).
Delving into the complex emotions of passionate pop-music appreciation, emerging local director Jessica Leski presents I Used to be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story – an empathetic documentary exploring why we hold pop music so dear to our hearts.
The NSFA-restored The Cheaters offers viewers a rare big-screen treat of a pioneering silent-era classic. A major landmark of Australian cinema, this is not just one of our earliest feature films – it’s one of the first by women filmmakers, the McDonagh sisters. The remaining fragments of the sisters’ popular first feature Those Who Love will screen alongside.
An exhilarating debut feature from Australian director Jason Raftopoulos, the Venice-premiering West of Sunshine stars Pawno’s Damian Hill alongside his real-life step-son Ty Perham and Offspring’s Kat Stewart (Sucker, MIFF 2015). Shot in Melbourne, it explores fatherhood, trauma and second chances.
Director Jeremy Sim’s (Last Cab to Darwin, Beneath Hill 60) Wayne is a must-see for moto-GP fans. Here, Sims explores a defining piece of Australian sporting history that saw Wayne Gardner conquer the world of motorcycle racing and return home a hero; while Island of the Hungry Ghosts takes audiences on a unique and moving cinematic journey through the intersection of Christmas Island’s migrating land crabs, lost souls caught in limbo and political detainees.
Sundance award-winner, Stephen Loveridge digs deep into the life of his good friend Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasm in MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A, demonstrating her pull-no-punches personality and focus on political activism, and how this caused her career to suffer; and rounding up the First Glance lineup, directors Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown dive wholeheartedly into the African-American roller rink scene, circling around racial profiling, the roots of rap and communities in crisis with Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award winner, United Skates.ANGELS WEAR WHITE (JIA NIAN HUA)
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WILDLIFE Starring Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal to Open 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_29567" align="aligncenter" width="1259"] Wildlife[/caption]
The first films of the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) were revealed today along with big announcement that the 67th edition will open with the Australian premiere gala screening of Paul Dano’s directorial debut Wildlife – starring Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal and Australia’s Ed Oxenbould. The First Glance selection of 32 films demonstrating MIFF’s expansive reach was also uncovered.
Based on the 1990 Richard Ford novel of the same name, Dano’s debut directorial outing (co-written by Zoe Kazan, seen alongside Dano at MIFF’s 2012 Ruby Sparks) tells a tender and empathetic story about a teen dealing with his family falling apart in 1960s Montana.
A hit at Sundance and Cannes, Wildlife is a bittersweet and elegant debut that represents a major coming-of-age – both off screen and on – for Oxenbould, an actor who broke out in MIFF 2014’s Paper Planes and last year’s MIFF Premiere Fund-supported The Butterfly Tree. Buoyed by exquisite cinematography from Diego Garcia (Neon Bull, MIFF 2016; Cemetery of Splendour, MIFF 2015) the film’s fine-tuned attention to period detail underscores its exceptional performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gSi0Qvki3o
“We are thrilled to announce Wildlife for this year’s Opening Night Gala. Paul Dano’s debut as a director provides a glimpse into a successful shift in his career from on screen to off, and the cast including Australia’s very own Ed Oxenbould (a special name here at MIFF) is an impressive way to kick off proceedings,” said MIFF’s Artistic Director Michelle Carrey.
“This in addition to the sneak peek of the rest of the program is an exciting time. Finally we can start talking about the most important thing…the films!”
This year’s MIFF program will feature more than 500+ screenings, including:
Ethan Hawke features with both on and off-screen contributions: he portrays a troubled priest experiencing a ‘crisis of faith’ in cinematic legend Paul Schrader’s latest feast of brooding menace, First Reformed; in Blaze, Hawke directs a daringly unconventional biopic of an unsung country music legend, featuring newcomer Benjamin Dickey in the title role (which won him a Sundance acting award) and Alia Shawkat.
Chloë Grace Moretz turns in a career-best performance in Desiree Akhavan’s sophomore feature The Miseducation of Cameron Post, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (US Dramatic); Cannes 2017 best actor winner Joaquin Phoenix features in Lynne Ramsay’s vengeance feature You Were Never Really Here, playing a war vet and ex-FBI agent whose new job includes rescuing children from paedophile rings; meanwhile, Bodied is the result of an unlikely pairing between Grammy-winning director Joseph Kahn and rapper turned producer Eminem who present their satirical story about an accidental battle-rap star.
In a variety of filmmaking firsts, acclaimed TV director Michael Pearce makes his feature debut in the sly, unsettling Beast – an impressive British crime drama love story wrapped in an intriguing psychosexual thriller; veteran slow-cinema auteur Tsai Ming-liang makes his debut foray into virtual reality with The Deserted, a 55-minute experience with a wordless, near-feature length tale of ghosts, grief and fish; and a little closer to home, Nash Edgerton’s TV series directorial debut Mr Inbetween brings The Magician’s charismatic killer-for-hire Ray Shoesmith back to our screens. MIFF will screen all six episodes before its television premiere on Foxtel’s Showcase channel.
The 2018 program delves deep into three iconic names spanning fashion, sport and Hollywood, starting with McQueen, a flamboyant portrait of one of the world’s most revered designers, Alexander McQueen – a man who once said “My shows are about sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. It’s for the excitement and the goosebumps. I want heart attacks. I want ambulances.” This biographical documentary by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui represents nothing less.
Julien Faraut’s John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection serves up a fascinating combination of instructional clips and exquisite 16mm footage of tennis bad boy John McEnroe at the height of his career at the 1984 French Open; and looking into the life of another legend, Tommy Avallone’s Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned from a Mythical Man follows the trail of the star’s alleged appearances musing on the interconnection of pop culture and ordinary life.
An Elephant Sitting Still takes us on a four-hour journey as Hu Bo paints a compelling, empathetic portrait of contemporary China in this FIPRESCI Prize-winning debut; and winner of SXSW’s Grand Jury Prize for documentary, People’s Republic of Desire is Hao Wu’s unsettling and fascinating look into the online world of live-streaming, social media and virtual relationships.
Turning impending loss into a poignant, poetic dreamscape, The Seen and Unseen is the second feature from Indonesia’s Kamila Andini and winner of best youth film at the 2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards; Tigers Are Not Afraid is a stunning contemporary fairytale that does for Mexico’s drug war what Guillermo del Toro did for the Spanish Civil War. Praised by Stephen King, the film saw Issa López become the first woman to win Fantastic Fest’s Best Horror Director award.
Denmark’s Gustav Möller makes his directorial debut with the Sundance and Rotterdam award-winning The Guilty, an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller told entirely in real time.
The UK’s Daniel Kokotajlo makes a devastating debut with Apostasy, a daring study of an all-female Jehovah’s Witness family riven by religious conflict starring Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey and Happy Valley); Babis Makridis proves he is coming into his own as a star with a second feature, Pity. A follow up to L (MIFF 2012), the quintessentially bleak and absurdist Greek New Wave comedy from the co-writer of The Lobster and Dogtooth was co-written with Yorgos Lanthimos’ key collaborator Efthymis Filippou (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, MIFF 2017).
Irreverent Iranian director Mani Haghighi (A Dragon Arrives! MIFF 2016) presents his latest meta-comedy magic, Pig – a riotous Iranian film industry satire about a serial killer; and Vivian Qu continues to interrogate crime, corruption and control in modern-day China in Angels Wear White, which won her the Best Director award at the Golden Horse Film Festival.
Based on Anna Seghers’ WWll novel of the same name, Transit is the slow-burn thriller from revered auteur Christian Petzold – a discomfiting fable of trans-European displacement that channels both Hitchcock and Casablanca; and one of contemporary cinema’s most esteemed directors Lucrecia Martel makes her long-awaited return with the historical fiction Zama, centred on an 18th-century Spanish magistrate marooned in a far-flung South American outpost where he’s losing touch with civilization and sanity.
Spaghetti Western, ’70s Euro-pulp and delirious psychedelia collide in Let the Corpses Tan – a glorious homage to cinema’s seedier retro fringes from genre connoisseurs Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani; audiences will step back in time to the French fashion scene with legendary fashion photographer William Klein’s award-winning black and white mockumentary that is now a groovy cult classic, Who are you, Polly Maggoo? and nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2018 Academy Awards, The Insult is the multi-award winning new work from Lebanese visionary Ziad Doueiri (The Attack, MIFF 2012).
Delving into the complex emotions of passionate pop-music appreciation, emerging local director Jessica Leski presents I Used to be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story – an empathetic documentary exploring why we hold pop music so dear to our hearts.
The NSFA-restored The Cheaters offers viewers a rare big-screen treat of a pioneering silent-era classic. A major landmark of Australian cinema, this is not just one of our earliest feature films – it’s one of the first by women filmmakers, the McDonagh sisters. The remaining fragments of the sisters’ popular first feature Those Who Love will screen alongside.
An exhilarating debut feature from Australian director Jason Raftopoulos, the Venice-premiering West of Sunshine stars Pawno’s Damian Hill alongside his real-life step-son Ty Perham and Offspring’s Kat Stewart (Sucker, MIFF 2015). Shot in Melbourne, it explores fatherhood, trauma and second chances.
Director Jeremy Sim’s (Last Cab to Darwin, Beneath Hill 60) Wayne is a must-see for moto-GP fans. Here, Sims explores a defining piece of Australian sporting history that saw Wayne Gardner conquer the world of motorcycle racing and return home a hero; while Island of the Hungry Ghosts takes audiences on a unique and moving cinematic journey through the intersection of Christmas Island’s migrating land crabs, lost souls caught in limbo and political detainees.
Sundance award-winner, Stephen Loveridge digs deep into the life of his good friend Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasm in MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A, demonstrating her pull-no-punches personality and focus on political activism, and how this caused her career to suffer; and rounding up the First Glance lineup, directors Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown dive wholeheartedly into the African-American roller rink scene, circling around racial profiling, the roots of rap and communities in crisis with Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award winner, United Skates.
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PRISON LOGIC, MINDING THE GAP, WEED THE PEOPLE Among Winners of 2018 Nashville Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_29341" align="aligncenter" width="1023"]
Prison Logic[/caption]
The 49th Annual Nashville Film Festival concluded its 10-day festival on Friday with the highly-anticipated announcement of the 2018 Award Winners. The top feature film awards went to Prison Logic directed by Romany Malco, winning the Narrative Competition Grand Jury Prize, and Minding the Gap directed by Bing Liu taking the Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize.
Feature Film Awards
Narrative Competition Grand Jury Prize – Romany Malco, Prison Logic Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize – Bing Liu, Minding the Gap Belmont University New Directors Competition Grand Jury Prize – Jim Cummings, Thunder Road Animation Compeition Grand Jury Prize – Benjamin Renner & Patrick Imbert, The Big Bad FOX and Other Tales Music Films/Music City Grand Jury Prize – Scott Balcerek, Satan & AdamShort Film Awards
Live Action Short – Grand Jury Prize – Cyril Aris, The President’s Visit US Narrative Short – Julio O. Ramos, Debris International Narrative Short – Nicolas Boucart, Icarus Animated Short – Grand Jury Prize – Trevor Jiminez, Weekends Documentary Short – Grand Jury Prize – Gordon Quinn, ’63 Boycott Experimental Short – Grand Jury Prize – Douwe Dijkstra, Green Screen Gringo Student Short – Grand Jury Prize – Maria Eriksson-Hecht, Schoolyard Blues Young Filmmakers Short – Alex Alford & Zak Denley, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to SuburbiaEpisodic Awards
Short Form – The Passage Long Form – Tammy’s Tiny Tea Time – The Full SeriesVR | 360
Grand Jury Prize – I Am a Man, created by Derek Ham Honorable Mention – MicroGiants, created by Yifu ZhouGraveyard Shift Awards
Graveyard Shift Grand Jury Prize for Feature Film – Mickey Reece, Mickey Reece’s Alien Graveyard Shift Grand Jury Prize for Short Film – Bo MaGuire, Socks on Fire: Uncle John and the COPPER Headed Water Rattlers Graveyard Shift, Best Actress – Cate Jones, Mickey Reece’s Alien Graveyard Shift, Best Actor (tie) – C.J. Jones, Door in the Woods Graveyard Shift, Best Actor (tie) – Jacob Ryan Snovel, Mickey Reece’s Alien Special Jury Prize for Imagination Philosophical and Scientific Rigor and Visual Inventiveness, Graveyard Shift – The LaPlace’s DemonTennessee Awards
Tennessee First Grand Jury Prize Feature – Brett Hanover, Rukus Tennessee First Grand Jury Prize Narrative Short – Hillary Bell, Hunter Tennessee First Grand Jury Prize Documentary Short – Karen Bullis, Kathy Lee Heuston, Clarksville, 1937 Tennessee First Grand Jury Prize Student Short – Jason Luckett, PilotsSong
Best Original Song – “Talk to Me,” from Blindspotting. Written by Anthony HamiltonAudience Awards
Narrative Competition – Prison Logic Documentary Competition – Weed the People New Directors Competition – Mountain Rest Music Films/Music City Competition – If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd (tie) Music Films/Music City Competition – Stay Human (tie) Special Presentations – Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me Spectrum – Into the Okavango Graveyard Shift – The Odds Tennessee First – Other Versions of YouNon-Cash Awards
Honorable Mention, Narrative Competition – Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, When She Runs Best Actor, Narrative Competition – Romany Malco, Prison Logic Best Actress, Narrative Competition – Elise Van’t Laar in Craving Best Screenplay – Vivien Qu, Angels Wear White Best Music – Carl Thiel, Prison Logic Special Jury Prize for Breakout Performances by a Young Actress – Meijun Zhou & Vicky Chen in Angels Wear White Honorable Mention, Documentary Competition – Laura Nix, Inventing Tomorrow Special Jury Prize for Openly and Honestly Expressing Love at a Critical Time – Ron Yassen, Crossroads Honorable Mention, New Directors Competition (tie) – Bierta Zeqiri, The Marriage Honorable Mention, New Directors Competition (tie) – Takashi Doscher, Still Honorable Mention, Music Films/Music City Competition – Stephen Kijack, If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd Honorable Mention, Graveyard Shift Competition – Christopher Kirkley, Zerzura Honorable Mention, Best International Short – Estefania Cortés, Miss Wamba Honorable Mention, Best U.S. Short – Carey Williams, Emergency Honorable Mention, Best Animated Short – Florian Brauch, Kim Tailhades, Matthieu Pujol, Romain Thirion, Yohan Thireau, Hybrids Special Jury Prize, Actor in a Narrative Short – Tom Doran, Time Traveller Special Jury Prize, Actress in a Narrative Short – Shaquita Lopez, Audition Special Jury Prize for Unique and Important Storytelling – Fabien Gorgeart, The Devil is in the Details Honorable Mention, Documentary Short – Shelby Hadden, Tightly Wound Honorable Mention, Documentary Short – Maris Curran, While I Yet Live Honorable Mention, Experimental Short – Eve Duhame, Julian Vallée, Strangers Honorable Mention, Best Graveyard Shift Short – John Boisen, Björn Fävremark, Paralys Honorable Mention Colleg Student Short – Alireza Ghasemi, Lunch Time Honorable Mention, Best Tennessee Narrative Short – Chad Cunningham, The Order Special Jury Prize for Best Tennessee Animated Short – John McAmis, QWERTY Special Jury Prize for Cinematography – Luca Caruso-Moro, Every Grain of Rice Special Jury Prize for Music Films/Music City – Bathtubs Over BroadwaySponsored Awards
VER Prize for Cinematography – Ashley Connor, Mountain Rest Lipscomb University Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Nicolo Donato, Across the Waters
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‘ANGELS WEAR WHITE’, ‘MINDING THE GAP’ Among Winners of 2018 RiverRun International Film Festival
[caption id="attachment_28797" align="aligncenter" width="1249"]
ANGELS WEAR WHITE[/caption]
RiverRun International Film Festival announced the Audience and Jury Awards for the 2018 Festival, which ran April 19 to 29 and presented 165 films.
“We had more than 2,000 submissions for our 2018 Festival and we had many difficult choices to make in completing the program. The juries were very impressed with our competition films and agreed it was difficult to make their final decisions,” said Rob Davis, RiverRun Executive Director.
NARRATIVE FEATURES COMPETITION
Best Narrative Feature Award : ANGELS WEAR WHITE / China (Director: Vivian Qu) Jury statement: “In giving the narrative feature award to ANGELS WEAR WHITE we were enthralled by the thematic resonance and poignancy of the film as well as the brutality of the subject matter. Shot against a backdrop of natural beauty it drove a remarkable narrative that straddled the line between hope and devastation.” The Peter Brunette Award for Best Director – Narrative Feature was presented to: Vivian Qu, ANGELS WEAR WHITE / China Best Actor / Thomas Gioria / CUSTODY Best Actress / Meijun Zhou / ANGELS WEAR WHITE Jury Statement: “Additionally, in giving out the acting awards we were particularly impressed with the magnetic performances of young actors who brought a harsh reality to the plight of their characters.” Best Screenplay / Laurent Cantet & Robin Campillo / THE WORKSHOP RiverRun’s 2018 Narrative Features jurors included: Amman Abbasi, Benjamin Crossley-Marra, Neil Soffer and Lauren Vilchik. Previous winners of RiverRun’s Best Narrative Feature Jury Award include: After Love (2017), The Fits (2016), Memories on Stone (2015), Ida (2014), In the House (2013), Found Memories (2012), Bal (2011), Katalin Varga (2010), Three Monkeys (2009), The Edge of Heaven (2008), For the Living and the Dead (2007), A Wonderful Night in Split (2006), and Innocent Voices (2005).DOCUMENTARY FEATURES COMPETITION
Best Documentary Feature: MINDING THE GAP / USA (Director: Bing Liu) Jury Statement: “For the Best Documentary prize, told with deep dedication and investment – both in terms of time and of heart – Bing Liu’s MINDING THE GAP is an astonishingly accomplished film that explores race, class, and masculinity, transcending cliches for a deeply honest and moving coming-of-age portrait of three young men.” Best Director / Mila Turajlic / THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING Jury Statement: “Mira Turajlic deftly mines the political for the personal in this complex double-portrait of her mother, Sribijanka—a university professor and activist—and the war-torn Serbia she has fought to call home. It’s a stunning directorial balancing act: too complicated to be a mere fawning portrait, it nevertheless gives life to Sribijanka’s fiery ideas with depth, rigor, and love.” Best Editing / Kieran Gosney & Dino Jonsäter / TIME TRIAL Jury Statement: “With precise and commanding technique, the editors take us on a ride into the middle of a sporting event most of us never watch or even understand… and into the experience of a rider on the ride of his life.” Best Cinematography / Julian Schwanitz / DONKEYOTE Jury Statement: “Lush, grounded, and patient. These words best describe the cinematography of Julian Schwanitz in DONKEYOTE. His gorgeous renderings of Southern Spain, his crisp capturing of sound, and the intimacy in which he portrays the film’s two main characters – Manolo, and his donkey, Gorrión, provide a tenderness and poetry that help this film soar.” RiverRun’s 2018 Documentary Features Competition jurors included: K. Austin Collins, Tom Haneke, Sierra Pettengill and Stan Wright. Previous winners of RiverRun’s Best Documentary Feature Jury Award include: Quest (2017), Salero (2016), The Chinese Mayor (2015), The Case Against 8 (2014), I Am Breathing (2013), The Boy Who Was a King (2012), Armadillo (2011), Last Train Home (2010), Unmistaken Child (2009), Up the Yangtze (2008), Manufactured Landscapes (2007), Taimagura Grandma (2006) and Parallel Lines (2005).SHORTS COMPETITION
Best Documentary Short : XAVIER CORBERO: PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST IN WINTER / Spain / Director: Nathalie Biancheri Jury Statement: “The film is so funny, its central character so outrageous, that it’s easy to miss the meticulousness of the filmmaker’s work – the slowly circular camera movements that perfectly match the rounded forms of Corbero’s architecture and sculpture. It’s what a short film should be: an immersion into character without an extraneous moment.” Special Jury Prize: WHILE I YET LIVE / USA / Director: Maris Curran Jury Statement: “A group of women so unpretentious that they might not think to describe themselves as artists yet who unarguably are. We are grateful for a film that has perfectly captured this precious American artistic movement before it vanishes.” Best Student Documentary Short: THE SANDMAN / USA / Director: Lauren Knapp / Stanford University Jury Statement: “No film can do justice to an issue as fraught as the death penalty. This short film adds an unexpected and valuable contrarian voice.” RiverRun’s 2018 Documentary Shorts jurors included: Laura Coxson, Peter Gilbert, Thomas Lennon and Xiao Xiao. Best Narrative Short : GARAGE AT NIGHT / Canada / Director: Daniel Daigle Jury Statement: “With innovative uses of the cut, off-camera action, silence, and truly alive performances, our selection for Best Narrative Short tells the story of a brotherhood without ever leaving one room. Never making a false choice, we believe this film exemplifies what’s possible in the form, and we’re delighted to present the award to GARAGE AT NIGHT, directed by Daniel Daigle.” Special Jury Prize: WELCOME HOME / Norway / Director: Armita Keyani Jury Statement: “We chose to give an honorable mention to a charming and refreshing comedy about an Iranian couple who take an unconventional route to making friends in their new Scandinavian neighborhood. With super charismatic performances from leads Ashkan Ghorbani and Elnaz Asghari, we can see this short as the first chapter of a series about these two funny lovebirds. Our Special Jury Mention goes to WELCOME HOME by Armita Keyani.” Best Animated Short : SOG / Germany / Director: Jonatan Schwenk Jury Statement: “We give the Best Animated Short Award to SOG for its nuanced exploration of the conflicts that arise between neighboring groups, and its innovative blending of techniques.” Special Jury Prize: WEEKENDS / USA / Director: Trevor Jimenez Jury Statement: “As Honorable Mention, we would like to acknowledge WEEKENDS for its elegant storytelling, beautiful production design, and its ability to portray the subject of divorce from a child’s perspective in a non-judgemental way.” Special Jury Prize: Carlotta’s Face / Germany / Directors: Valentin Riedl & Frédéric Schuld Jury Statement: “As Honorable Mention, we would like to acknowledge CARLOTTA’S FACE for its poetic use of animation to help visualize the condition of face blindness and showcase it as an artistic tool to overcome adversity.” RiverRun’s 2018 Animated Shorts jurors included: Lizzi Akana, Joel Frenzer and Andy Kennedy.AUDIENCE AWARDS
Overall Audience Award: IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE / USA / Director: Gregg Jamback Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton Narrative Feature Audience Award: BYE BYE GERMANY / Germany / Luxembourg / Belgium / Director: Sam Garbarski Documentary Feature Audience Award: SILAS / Canada / South Africa / Kenya / Directors: Hawa Essuman and Anjali Nayar Altered States Audience Award: SAINTS REST / USA / Director: Noga AshkenaziPITCHFEST
In an effort to further promote the development of new filmmaking talent, RiverRun partnered with universities around the state to present the fifth annual PitchFest competition. Pre-selected student filmmakers from The Documentary Film Program at Wake Forest University, Elon University, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington pitched their documentary shorts projects to a panel of industry experts, received advice on how to proceed, and vied for prizes and industry recognition. The Piedmont Federal Savings Bank First Place winner received a $500 prize and the Runner Up received a $250 prize to assist in the production and completion of their films. Piedmont Federal Savings Bank First Place: NO SANCTUARY / UNCSA / Directors: Moriah Hall & Nathan Knox Second Place: DEAD IN THE WATER / UNC – Wilmington / Director: Lizzie Bankowsk RiverRun PitchFest 2018 jurors included: Celia Weston, Brett Ingram and Nick Price.
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Seattle International Film Festival Announces 2018 Lineup of Over 400 Films
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Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot[/caption]
This year’s 44th edition of the Seattle International Film Festival revealed today the complete lineup of 433 films, plus guests and events for the 25-day Festival that runs May 17 to June 10, 2018. Opening night kicks off Thursday, May 17 with The Bookshop from acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet (Learning to Drive, Elegy), distributed by Greenwich Entertainment. The film is set in a seaside village in England where a grieving widow (Emily Mortimer) pursues her lifelong dream of opening a bookshop. She introduces the townsfolk to the world’s best literature and stirs a cultural awakening, but her efforts are ruthlessly opposed by a powerful local (Patricia Clarkson) causing a reclusive resident (Bill Nighy) to join the fight to keep the bookshop open. The film is based on the bestselling novel by Penelope Fitzgerald.
The annual Centerpiece Gala, Sorry to Bother You, pulls no punches in its portrayal of racial dynamics in the workplace. This new film ushers in an utterly original and wildly creative new voice on the film scene from debut director and musician Boots Riley. Director Boots Riley is scheduled to attend the Seattle premiere to take place Saturday, June 2, at 5:30 PM, at the SIFF Cinema Egyptian.
The Seattle premiere of Ethan Hawke’s Blaze will also screen at the historic SIFF Cinema Egyptian as SIFF honors Mr. Hawke’s work with the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema. In addition to the award presentation and screening, the acclaimed actor is slated for an on-stage interview at the Friday, June 8 event.
Also scheduled is An Afternoon with Melanie Lynskey, where the Festival pays tribute to this celebrated actress. The iconic scene-stealing actress makes her way to SIFF on Sunday, May 27 for the Seattle premiere of Northwest Filmmaker Megan Griffiths’ film Sadie with an onstage discussion following the film.
Seattle favorite, Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, closes SIFF 2018 with a bang! Starring Joaquin Phoenix in a transformative performance as Portland cartoonist John Callahan who, after a car accident leaves him disabled, uses his sardonic humor and brutal honesty to battle with a lifetime of addiction.
“Sifting through over 4,000 film submissions each year, finding just 240 features is somewhat of a treasure hunt,” said SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “We’re looking for dynamic, diverse stories. This year, we’re overjoyed to share that over 43-percent of the feature films are female directed. We’re thrilled to jump into the 44th Festival and share these voices from around the globe with over 150,000 film enthusiasts in Seattle over the course of 25 days.”
GALAS
Opening Night Gala The Bookshop Spanish director Isabel Coixet heads to the English coast circa 1959, where a headstrong widow (Emily Mortimer) opens a bookstore in a sleepy village and encounters both pride and prejudice from the provincial locals. Winner of Best Film, Director, and Screenplay at Spain’s Goya Awards. (d: Isabel Coixet c: Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, Julie Christie, Hunter Tremayne, United Kingdom 2017, 110 min) Centerpiece Gala Sorry to Bother You Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, and Armie Hammer star in the exhilarating directorial debut of musician Boots Riley, a biting and bonkers satire that follows a black telemarketer who discovers an unknown skill which gives him magical selling powers that shoot him up the corporate ladder. (d: Boots Riley c: Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Jermaine Fowler, Armie Hammer, Omari Hardwick, David Cross, Danny Glover, USA 2018, 112 min) Closing Night Gala Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot Joaquin Phoenix gives a transformative performance in Gus Van Sant’s sensitive and caustically funny portrait of Portland cartoonist John Callahan who, after a car accident leaves him disabled, uses his sardonic humor and brutal honesty to battle with a lifetime of addiction. The outstanding supporting cast includes Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, and musician Beth Ditto in her impressive film debut. (d: Gus Van Sant c: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Beth Ditto, USA 2018, 113 min)SPECIAL GUESTS
AN AFTERNOON WITH Melanie Lynskey FILM: Sadie Since making her debut at age 16 opposite a young Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, the New Zealand-born Melanie Lynskey has become one of American cinema’s most reliable character actors. From Ever After: A Cinderella Story to Shattered Glass, The Informant! to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Hello I Must Be Going to I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, and TV work ranging from HBO’s “Togetherness” and “Animals” and Cartoon Network’s “Over the Garden Wall” to 12 years on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” her passionate dedication to her craft has created a class of charismatic characters defined by their grace, sensitivity, quirkiness, and kindness. This afternoon, SIFF will welcome her to the stage for an interview featuring film clips from her career, followed by a screening of one of Lynskey’s latest films, Sadie, directed by Seattle-based Megan Griffiths (The Night Stalker, Lucky Them, Eden), with music by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready. There will also be an opportunity for audience questions following the screening.OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMA
A Tribute to Ethan Hawke FILM: Blaze A modern day renaissance artist, Ethan Hawke’s creative talent continues to flourish in several realms of expression. An actor, screenwriter, novelist, and filmmaker, his body of work is broad as it is deep in a career that now spans three decades. From portraying a rock-steady police sergeant and cowboy, to a sensitive teenage poet and young heartthrob, his versatility as an actor is renowned, cementing him as one of the great performers of this generation. SIFF will present Ethan Hawke with the Seattle International Film Festival Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema. A Q&A with Hawke will follow the screening of his new film, Blaze. Past honorees of the SIFF Outstanding Achievement Awards include Anjelica Huston, Laura Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Viggo Mortensen, Kyle MacLachlan, Sir Ben Kingsley, Kevin Bacon, Edward Norton, Sissy Spacek, Joan Allen, Spike Lee, among others.FILMS WITH PARTIES
Saturday Film and Party The Cake General, North American Premiere SATURDAY, MAY 19, 5:30 PM – Party to follow screening FILM: MAJESTIC BAY PARTY: NORDIC MUSEUM Based on a true story, the directorial debut of popular Swedish personalities Filip and Fredrik is an outrageous, unconventional comedy set in the 1980s about an eccentric resident of “the most boring town in Sweden” who decides to put his sleepy hamlet on the map by assembling the world’s longest layer cake. (d: Filip Hammar, Fredrik Wikingsson c: Mikael Perssbrandt, Helena Bergström, Agnes Lindström Bolmgren, Tomas von Brömssen, Sweden 2018, 101 min) Saturday Film and Party Won’t You Be My Neighbor? SATURDAY, MAY 26, 6:00 PM – Party to follow screening FILM: SIFF CINEMA UPTOWN PARTY: THE HOUSE STUDIOS Oscar®-winning director Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) presents the heartwarming life of Fred Rogers, whose cherished PBS series, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” used cardigans, puppets, and the Land of Make-Believe to imaginatively and compassionately inspire children, while not shying away from complicated issues. (d: Morgan Neville f: Fred Rogers, USA 2018, 93 min) Kirkland Opening Night The Drummer and the Keeper THURSDAY, MAY 31, 8:00 PM – Party to precede screening PARTY AND FILM: KIRKLAND PERFORMANCE CENTER When a drummer for an up-and-coming Dublin rock band is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he is forced to join a weekend mixed-ability soccer team and makes fast friends with a 17-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome in this poignant and charming bro-com between two odd and lonely souls. (d: Nick Kelly c: Dermot Murphy, Jacob McCarthy, Peter Coonan, Ireland/USA 2017, 93 min)SPECIAL PRESENTATION
L’INFERNO WITH LIVE SCORE BY MY GOODNESS Thursday, May 31 | 7:00 PM | The Triple Door Seattle rock band My Goodness bring their expansive blues-inspired sound to The Triple Door for a live accompaniment to the 1911 Italian silent film, a macabre tour de force inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” featuring ground-breaking special effects and a cast of thousands.SPOTLIGHT PRESENTATIONS
HIGHLANDER WITH LIVE SOUNDTRACK BY DJ NICFIT Wednesday, May 23 | 6:30 PM | SIFF Cinema Egyptian When originally released in 1986, this franchise-inspiring fantasy adventure about an immortal Scottish swordsman featured a handful of new songs from rock icons Queen. Now, Seattle’s own DJ NicFit reimagines the cult classic with a decades-spanning all-Queen playlist performed live on two turntables. FOUND FOOTAGE FESTIVAL: CHERISHED GEMS Wednesday, June 6 | 9:15 PM | SIFF Cinema Egyptian Ranging from industrial training videos to forsaken home movies, comedians Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher’s vast VHS library features the world’s largest collection of strange, outrageous, and profoundly stupid videos, the best (and worst) of which they have carefully curated and present along with live comedy commentary. EIGHTH GRADE Saturday June, 9, 6:30 PM | SIFF Cinema Egyptian Sunday, June 10, 12:30 PM | SIFF Cinema Uptown Newcomer Elsie Fisher, in a star-making performance, perfectly captures the everyday humiliations and triumphs of a modern-day thirteen-year-old making her way through the last week of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year in the auspicious filmmaking debut of comedian Bo Burnham.COMPETITIONS
Official Competition
The Devil’s Doorway (d: Aislinn Clarke, United Kingdom 2018, World Premiere) Garbage (d: Q (Qaushiq Mukherjee), India 2018, North American Premiere) The Heiresses (d: Marcelo Martinessi, Paraguay/Uruguay/Germany/Brazil/Norway/France 2018, US Premiere) Leave No Trace (d: Debra Granik, USA 2018) Luna (d: Elsa Diringer, France 2017) Pig (d: Mani Haghighi, Iran 2018, North American Premiere) The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (d: Muayad Alayan, Palestine/Netherlands/Germany/Mexico 2018, North American Premiere) Something Useful (d: Pelin Esmer, Turkey/France/Netherlands/Germany 2017, North American Premiere) Team Hurricane (d. Annika Berg, Denmark 2017)New Directors Competition
After the War (d: Annarita Zambrano, France/Italy/Belgium/Switzerland 2017) Amateurs (d: Gabriela Pichler, Sweden 2018) The Blessed (d: Sofia Djama, France/Belgium 2017) The Charmer (d: Milad Alami, Denmark/Sweden 2017) Dead Pigs (d: Cathy Yan, China/USA 2018) Retablo (d: Alvaro Delgado-Aparicio L., Peru/Germany/Norway 2018, North American Premiere) Sashinka (d: Kristina Wagenbauer, Canada (Québec) 2017, US Premiere) Scary Mother (d: Ana Urushadze, Georgia/Estonia 2017) Shuttle Life (d: Tan Seng Kiat, Malaysia 2017, US Premiere) Supa Modo (d: Likarion Wainaina, Kenya/Germany 2018)Ibero-American Competition
Champions (d: Javier Fesser, Spain 2018, North American Premiere) Giant (d: Jon GaranÞo, Aitor Arregi, Spain 2017) Gold Seekers (d: Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schémbori, Paraguay 2017) Killing Jesus (d: Laura Mora Ortega, Colombia/Argentina 2017) Lots of Kids, A Monkey and a Castle (d: Gustavo Salmerón, Spain 2017) Marilyn (d: Martiìn Rodriguez, Argentina/Chile 2018, North American Premiere) Rush Hour (d: Luciana Kaplan, Mexico 2017) Rust (d: Aly Muritiba, Brazil 2018) Virus Tropical (d: Santiago Caicedo, Colombia/Ecuador 2017)New American Cinema Competition
Jinn (d: Nijla Mu’min, USA 2018) My Name Is Myeisha (d: Gus Krieger, USA 2018) Noble Earth (d: Ursula Grisham, USA 2017, US Premiere) Prospect (d: Zeek Earl, Chris Caldwell, USA/Canada 2018) Sadie (d: Megan Griffiths, USA 2018) Thunder Road (d: Jim Cummings, USA 2018) Tyrel (d: Sebastián Silva, USA 2018) Wild Nights With Emily (d: Madeleine Olnek, USA 2018)Documentary Competition
Afghan Cycles (d: Sarah Menzies, USA/France/Afghanistan 2018, US Premiere) Inventing Tomorrow (d: Laura Nix, USA 2018) MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. (d: Stephen Loveridge, Sri Lanka/United Kingdom/USA 2018) People’s Republic of Desire (d: Hao Wu, China 2018) Queerama (d: Daisy Asquith, United Kingdom 2017) The Return (d: Malene Choi, Denmark 2018) Unarmed Verses (d: Charles Officer, Canada 2017, US Premiere) Warrior Women (d: Elizabeth A. Castle, Christina D. King, USA 2018, US Premiere)AFRICAN PICTURES
The African Storm (d: Sylvestre Amoussou, Benin/France 2017) The Blessed (d: Sofia Djama, France/Belgium 2017) Cook Off (d: Tomas L. Brickhill, Zimbabwe 2017, North American Premiere) Ellen (d: Daryne Joshua, South Africa 2017, North American Premiere) I Am Not a Witch (d: Rungano Nyoni, Zambia/France/United Kingdom 2017) Looking for Oum Kulthum (d: Shirin Neshat, Germany/Austria/Italy/Lebanon/Qatar 2017) Maki’la (d: Machérie Ekwa Bahango, Democratic Republic of Congo/France 2018, North American Premiere) Razzia (d: Nabil Ayouch, France/Morocco/Belgium 2017) Silas (d: Hawa Essuman, Anjali Nayar, Canada/South Africa/Kenya 2017) Supa Modo (d: Likarion Wainaina, Kenya/Germany 2018)CHINA STARS
Awards will be presented to: Best New Talent Award: Mingming Yang for Girls Always Happy Best First Film Award: Dead Pigs by Cathy Yan Best Film Award: The Taste of Betel Nut – Angels Wear White (d: Vivian Qu, China/France 2017) Dead Pigs (d: Cathy Yan, China/USA 2018) Girls Always Happy (d: Mingming Yang, China 2018, North American Premiere) Love Education (d: Sylvia Chang, Mainland China/Taiwan 2017) People’s Republic of Desire (d: Hao Wu, China 2018) The Silk and the Flame (d: Jordan Schiele, USA/China 2018, US Premiere) Susu (d: Yixi Sun, China/United Kingdom 2017, US Premiere) The Taste of Betel Nut (d: Jia Hu, Mainland China/Hong Kong 2017, North American Premiere) The Widowed Witch (d: Chenglie Cai, China 2018, North American Premiere) Wrath of Silence (d: Yukun Xin, China 2017, North American Premiere)CULINARY CINEMA
Brewmaster (d: Douglas Tirola, USA/Czech Republic 2018) Constructing Albert (d: Laura Collado, Jim Loomis, Spain 2017) Cuban Food Stories (d: Asori Soto, Cuba/USA 2018) Michelin Stars: Tales from the Kitchen (d: Rasmus Dinesen, Denmark 2017) Schumann’s Bar Talks (d: Marieke Schroeder, Germany 2017) Scotch – A Golden Dream (d: Andrew Peat, Taiwan 2017) Soufra (d: Thomas Morgan, USA 2017)FACE THE MUSIC
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story (d: Steve Sullivan, United Kingdom 2018) Blaze (d: Ethan Hawke, USA 2018) Industrial Accident – The Story of Wax Trax! Records (d: Julia Nash, USA/Belgium/Canada/Germany 2018) Looking for Oum Kulthum (d: Shirin Neshat, Germany/Austria/Italy/Lebanon/Qatar 2017) Making the Grade (d: Ken Wardrop, Ireland 2017) MATANGI / Maya / M.I.A (d: Stephen Loveridge, Sri Lanka/United Kingdom/USA 2018) Nico, 1988 (d: Susanna Nicchiarelli, Italy/USA 2017) Rubén Blades Is Not My Name ( d: Abner Benaim, Panama/Argentina/Colombia 2018) Ryuichi Sakamoto:Coda (d: Stephen Nomura, Japan/USA 2017)NORTHWEST CONNECTIONS
Afghan Cycles (d: Sarah Menzies, USA/France/Afghanistan 2018, US Premiere) Automata (d: Van Alan, USA 2017) The Faces of Zandra Rhodes (d: David Wiesehan, USA 2018, World Premiere) The Most Dangerous Year (d: Vlada Knowlton, USA 2018, World Premiere) Prospect (d: Zeek Earl, Chris Caldwell, USA/Canada 2018) Return to Mount Kennedy (d: Eric Becker, USA 2018) Sadie (d: Megan Griffiths, USA 2018)
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Seattle International Film Festival to Feature 10 Films from Mainland China in 2018 China Stars Showcase
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People’s Republic of Desire[/caption]
The Seattle International Film Festival continues to feature the diverse artistic visions and cultural richness in Chinese cinema by showcasing 10 feature films from Mainland China in the third China Stars showcase. The 44th Seattle International Film Festival will feature films from five female directors and five first-time directors, with many of the filmmakers scheduled to attend.
The China Star Showcase features a range of films, like SXSW Grand Jury Award Documentary Feature Winner, People’s Republic of Desire, that looks into the universe of online idols that has people replacing their human connections for virtual ones, and director Cathy Yang’s debut feature, Dead Pigs, a comedic picture with quirky characters making their way in Shanghai.
The China Stars Celebration and Awards will be held on Friday, June 8 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, to raise greater awareness of the excellent filmmaking in contemporary Chinese cinema and to promote cross-cultural exchange with all Festival filmmakers.
China Stars films include:
People’s Republic of Desire
Director: Hao Wu | China 2018 | 95 min
Take a fascinating journey inside China’s digital idol-making universe, where individuals morph into improbable online celebrities, captivating millions of viewers and earning hundreds of thousands of dollars by soliciting donations in exchange for virtual connection. Winner of the documentary Grand Jury Prize at the SXSW Film Festival.
Angels Wear White
Director: Vivian Qu | China/France 2017 | 107 min
Writer-director Vivian Qu depicts how China’s corrupt system is stacked against women in this #MeToo potboiler that follows a young woman who witnesses a local official’s assault against two schoolgirls, leading to a complex aftermath of cover-ups and gas-lighting.
Girls Always Happy (North American Premiere)
Director: Mingming Yang | China 2018 | 117 min
In her bitingly funny feature debut, filmmaker Yang Mingming plays a young college graduate stuck living at home with her mother, where parent and child exchange increasingly sarcastic barbs about everything from marriage to money to table manners, without realizing that they are much more alike than they care to admit.
Dead Pigs
Director: Cathy Yan | China/USA 2018 | 130 min
Five Shanghai residents—a haggard pig farmer, a stubborn salon owner, a deceptive busboy, a foreign architect, and a brittle rich girl—find their lives converging amidst the backdrop of a mysterious river of dead swine (a real-life event) in Chinese-American director Cathy Yan’s effervescent cinematic mosaic.
The Taste of Betel Nut (North American Premiere)
Director: Jia Hu | Mainland China/Hong Kong 2017 | 84 min
A polyamorous male couple live a thrillingly free life among the surfers on the tropical coast of Hainan Island until they decide to test the limitations of a restrictive society, and their own sexuality, by becoming romantically entangled with a beautiful young girl.
Wrath of Silence (North American Premiere)
Director: Yukun Xin | China 2017 | 119 min
In this Western-inspired crime thriller set in the Chinese countryside, a laboring family man whose brutal past led to biting his own tongue off in a fight, sets out on a mission of stunningly choreographed violence after his son is kidnapped by a crossbow-wielding, meat-obsessed gangster (Jiang Wu, A Touch of Sin).
Susu (US Premiere)
Director: Yixi Sun | China/United Kingdom 2017 | 106 min
Two Chinese students find themselves in the midst of a chilling gothic tale after they take a weekend job transcribing the archives of a famous Chinese opera star, which sends them to a secluded 16th-century mansion in the British countryside whose strange occupants are hiding gruesome family secrets.
Love Education (North American Premiere)
Director: Sylvia Chang | Mainland China/Taiwan 2017 | 122 min
Taiwanese actress and director Sylvia Chang (Murmur of the Hearts) explores a multi-generational story of love and womanhood in a profound and bittersweet journey that begins when a woman makes a plan to relocate her father’s grave, revealing the romances and betrayals of the past and present.
The Widowed Witch (North American Premiere)
Director: Chengjie Cai | China 2018 | 118 min
A third-time widow who falls on especially hard times is declared cursed, but turns superstition to her advantage by travelling the wintry landscape of rural China and offering supernatural advice, in this modern tale of mysticism told with mordant humor and starkly beautiful cinematography.
The Silk and the Flame (US Premiere)
Director: Jordan Schiele | China/USA 2018 | 100 min
As a teenager, Yao moved from his small village in central China to Beijing, where he embraced life as a gay man. Now approaching middle age, he returns to visit his traditionalist family in this intimate and bittersweet true story told in evocative black and white.
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NashFilm Announces 2018 Feature Films Lineup for Narrative, Documentary, New Directors & Graveyard Shift Competitions
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Adventures in Public School[/caption]
The Nashville Film Festival continues its lineup for the ten-day festival, running May 10 to 19, 2018, with the announcement of 48 additional feature films in Narrative, Documentary, New Directors and Graveyard Shift competitions.
Capturing the essence of today’s most relevant social issues, historical stories and more, these 48 films hail from China, South Africa, Netherlands, Denmark, India, France and more, as well as 31 from the U.S. A jury of industry professionals will select the winning films that will take home up to $20,000 in cash and prizes.
“We received over 6,100 film submissions and the process of determining the 48 participants was incredibly challenging as the caliber of submissions continues to astonish us each year,” said Artistic Director, Brian Owens. “We strive to always include a diverse roster of feature films that inspire, move and create meaningful conversations.”
Below are the 2018 selections in the categories:
Narrative Competition
1985 (Southeast US Premiere) – A closeted young man goes home for the holidays and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family. Cast: Jamie Chung, Virginia Masden, Michael Chiklis, Director: Yen Tan, Producers: Hutch, Ash Christian (USA) Across the Waters (Southeast US Premiere) – ACROSS THE WATERS is the gripping tale of the Danish Jews’ escape to Sweden in October 1943. Cast: David Dencik, Danica Curcic, Director: Nicolo Donato, Producer: Peter Bech (Denmark) An Act of Defiance (Tennessee Premiere) – A South African lawyer risks his life and career to defend Nelson Mandela and his inner circle. Cast: Peter Paul Muller, Antoinette Louw, Sello Motloung, Sean Venter, Director: Jean van de Velde, Producers: Michael Auret, Richard Claus, Hugh Rogers (South Africa, Netherlands) Adventures In Public School (Southeast US Premiere) – A socially awkward home-schooled kid forces his way into public-school against his suffocating but loving mother’s wishes. Cast: Judy Greer, Daniel Doheny, Russell Peters, Grace Park, Siobhan Williams, Director: Kyle Rideout, Producer: Josh Epstein (Canada) Angels Wear White (Tennessee Premiere) – ANGELS WEAR WHITE is a powerful film noir that exposes the social injustices and difficult issues women face in contemporary China. Cast: Wen Qi, Zhou Meijun, Shi Ke, Geng Le, Liu Weiwei, Peng Jing, Director: Vivian Qu, Producer: Sean Chen (China) Bikini Moon (Tennessee Premiere) – A charismatic homeless woman captures the attention of a documentary film crew who are ready to exploit her story for their own shot at independent movie fame in this very modern, urban fairy tale set amidst a fractured ideal of family. Cast: Condola Rashad, Sarah Goldberg, Will Janowitz, Sathya Sridharan, Director: Milcho Manchevski, Producers: Anja Wedell, Munire Armstrong (USA) Craving (US Premiere) – Coco has no idea what to do with her life until she discovers her mother is terminally ill. Cast: Simone Kleinsma, Elise van ‘t Laar, Director: Saskia Diesing. Producers: Hans de Wolf, Hanneke Niens (Netherlands) Dating My Mother (Southeast US Premiere) – A single mother and her gay son navigate the world of online dating in search of their versions of Mr. Right. Cast: Kathryn Erbe, Patrick Reily, Kathy Najimy, James Le Gros, Paul Iacono, Director: Mike Roma, Producer: Ashley Hills (USA) DriverX (Tennessee Premiere) – Skidding into middle age, a “50-something” stay-at-home dad who recently lost his record store must start driving for a rideshare company to help support his working wife and two young daughters. Cast: Patrick Fabian, Tanya Clarke, Desmin Borges, Travis Schuldt, Melissa Fumero, Oscar Nunez, Director: Henry Barrial, Producers: Mark Stolaroff, Alex Cutler (USA) Fifty Springtimes (Southeast US Premiere) – A woman in her 50s loses her job, finds out she is about to become a grandmother and is given an opportunity to start life over again. Cast: Agnès Jaoui, Director: Blandine Lenoir, Producers: Fabrice Goldstein, Antoine Rein (France) Goliath (Southeast US Premiere) – When a young soon-to-be father is unable to defend in his girldfriend in an attack, he takes steps that may threaten everything he loves. Cast: Sven Schelker, Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Director: Dominik Locher. Producers: Rajko Jazbec, Dario Schoch (Switzerland) Prison Logic (Tennessee Premiere) – PRISON LOGIC is an original comedy that tracks the life of Tijuana Jackson, an ex-convict fresh out of prison, set on becoming a world renowned motivational speaker. Cast: Romany Malco Jr., Regina Hall, Tami Roman, Alkoya Brunson, Director: Romany Malco Jr., Producers: Romany Malco Jr., Josh Etting, Brian Etting (USA) Salvation (Southeast US Premiere) – Cris, a thirteen year old girl, is admitted to a hospital to undergo open heart surgery. There she meets Víctor, a boy her same age who says he’s a vampire and who proposes a different kind of salvation for her heart: immortality. Cast: Marina Botí, Laura Yuste, Alzira Gómez, Carmen Flores, Director: Denise Castro, Producer: Denise Castro (Spain) Shelter (Tennessee Premiere) – A subtle thriller set in Germany involving Mona, a Lebanese woman, and Naomi, an Israeli Mossad agent, sent to protect their informant who is recovering from plastic surgery to conceal her identity. Together for two weeks in a quiet apartment in Hamburg, the two women take us into a complex, multi-dimensional labyrinth of trust and mistrust, of honesty and deception, of loyalty and betrayal. Cast: Neta Riskin, Golshifteh Farahani, Haluk Bilginer, Director: Eran Riklis, Producers: Bettina Brokemper, Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Michael Eckelt, Eran Riklis (USA) When She Runs (Tennessee Premiere) – A young mother of limited means puts everything on the line to pursue her dream of becoming a competitive runner. Cast: Kirstin Anderson, Ivan Gehring, Jonah Graham. Directors: Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, Producer: Laura Heberton (USA)Documentary Competition
Chef Flynn (Tennessee Premiere) – With access to a trove of personal archival footage and including new, intimate vérité footage, director Cameron Yates creates a collage of Flynn’s singular focus and distinctive path through childhood. CHEF FLYNN shares a rare view of a young man’s successful rise from the inside. Director: Cameron Yates, Producers: Laura Coxson, Cameron Yates, Philipp Engelhorn (USA) Circles (US Premiere) – A Hurricane Katrina survivor who works to keep Black teenagers in school in Oakland, California finds his personal and professional lives colliding when his 15-year-old-son goes to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Cast: Eric Butler, Tre Thomas, Betsye Steele, Mercedes Morgan, Ted Quant, Director: Cassidy Friedman, Producer: Cassidy Friedman (USA) Crime + Punishment (Tennessee Premiere) – Meet the NYPD12: a group of minority whistleblower officers who risk everything to expose racially discriminatory policing practices and smash the blue wall of silence. Director: Stephen Maing. Producer: Stephen Maing, Ross Tuttle, Eric Daniel Metzgar (USA) Crossroads (Tennesee Premiere) – This documentary follows a team of at-risk African-American teenagers and their lacrosse coach on a most improbable and inspiring journey. Director: Ron Yassen, Producers: Lauren Griswold, John Hirsch (USA) Dark Money (Tennessee Premiere) – Kimberly Reed returns to her native state of Montana to expose the insidious reach of corporate interests into politics and to chronicle its grassroots opposition. Director: Kimberly Reed, Producers: Kimberly Reed, Katy Chevigny (USA) Every Act of Life (Southeast Premiere) – The life of Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally: 60 years of groundbreaking plays and musicals, the struggle for LGBT rights, addiction and recovery, finding true love, and the relentless pursuit of inspiration. Cast: Rita Moreno, Meryl Streep, Bryan Cranston, Christine Baranski, Director: Jeff Kaufman, Producers: Jeff Kaufman, Marcia Ross (USA) hillbilly (World Premiere) hillbilly is a documentary film that examines the iconic hillbilly stereotype in film and television. The film explores more than a hundred years of media representation of mountain and rural people, reveals how the hillbilly icon reflects America’s aspirational self-image over the decades, and offers an urgent exploration of how we see and think about poor, white, rural America. Cast: Billy Redden, Ronny Cox, bell hooks, Michael Apted, Silas House, Crystal Good, Frank X Walker. Directors: Sally Rubin, Ashley York. Producers: Sally Rubin, Ashley York. (USA). Minding the Gap (Tennessee Premiere) – Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust-Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship. Cast: Zack Mulligan, Keire Johnson, Bing Liu, Nina Bowgren, Director: Bing Liu, Producers: Bing Liu, Diane Quon (USA) A Murder in Mansfield (Tennessee Premiere) – In 1990, the testimony of a 12-year-old boy sealed his father’s fate. A jury convicted prominent Ohio doctor John Boyle of murdering Collier’s mother. 26 years later, the son returns determined to get an admission of guilt from his imprisoned father. Cast: Collier Landry, Director: Barbara Kopple, Producers: Barbara Kopple, David Cassidy, Ray Nowosielski (USA) On Her Shoulders (Tennessee Premiere) – Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to the world, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the international stage as the voice of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people’s good intentions. Cast: Nadia Murad, Directors: Alexandria Bombach, Producers: Hayley Pappas, Brock Williams (USA) Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (Southeast US Premiere) – In 2015, Sandra Bland, a young black woman, was found hanging in a small-town Texas jail cell days after a traffic violation. Ruled a suicide, her death fueled worldwide allegations of a racially motivated police murder. The filmmakers embedded with Sandra’s family during their two-year battle to uncover the truth. Cast: Sandra Bland, Directors: Kate Davis, David Heilbroner, Producers: Nancy Knox Talcott, David Heilbroner (USA) The World Before Your Feet (Tennessee Premiere) – For over six years, and for reasons he can’t explain, Matt Green has been walking every block of every street in New York City – a journey of more than 8,000 miles. Cast: Matt Green, Director: Jeremy Workman, Producers: Jeremy Workman, Jesse Eisenberg (USA) Zero Weeks (Southeast US Premiere) – Weaving powerful stories together with insightful interviews from leading policy makers, economists, researchers and activists, ZERO WEEKS lays out a compelling argument for guaranteed paid leave for every American worker. Director: Ky Dickens, Producers: Ky Dickens, Alexis Jaworski (USA) Weed the People (Southeast US Premiere) – Cannabis has been off-limits to doctors and researchers in the US for the past 80 years, but recently scientists have discovered its anti-cancer properties. Armed with only these laboratory studies, desperate parents obtain cannabis oil from underground sources to save their children from childhood cancers. Director: Abby Epstein, Producers: Giancarlo Canavesio, Sol Tryon (USA)New Directors Competition
3/4 (Southeast US Premiere) – Mila is a gifted pianist with a bright future, yet her father pays more attention to the rings of Saturn than to her goals, and her brother tries to distract her with his unwanted talent for the absurd. A portrait of a family, struggling to find meaning during their last summer together. Cast: Mila Mihova, Nikolay Mashalo. Director: Ilian Metev, Producers: Ilian Metev, Ingmar Trost (Bulgaria) After Louie (Tennessee Premiere) – AFTER LOUIE explores the contradictions of modern gay life and history through Sam, a man desperate to understand how he and his community got to where they are today. Cast: Alan Cumming, Zachary Booth, Sarita Choudhury. Director: Vincent Gagliostro. Producers: Lauren Belfer, Alan Cumming, Bryce Renninger (USA) Best of All Worlds (Tennessee Premiere) – The true story of a child and his life in the unusual world of his heroin addict mother and their love for one another. Cast: Verena Altenberger, Jeremy Miliker, Lukas Miko, Michael Pink, Reinhold G. Moritz, Philipp Stix. Director: Adrian Goiginger, Producers: Wolfgang Ritzberger, Nils Dünker (Austria) The Marriage (Southeast US Premiere) – Bekim and Anita are getting married, but she is unaware that he is still in love with his best friend Nol. Cast: Alban Ukah, Adriana Matoshi, Genc Salihu. Director: Blerta Zeqiri, Producer: Kreshnik Keka Berisha (Kosovo) Mountain Rest (World Premiere) – After sequestering herself to a small mountain town, an aging actress calls her estranged daughter and granddaughter home for reconciliation and one final celebration. Cast: Natalia Dyer, Frances Conroy, Kate Lynn Sheil, Shawn Hatosy, Joshua Brady, Karson Kern, Director: Alex O Eaton, Producers: Fernando Loureiro, Roberto Vasconcellos, Renata Nascimento (USA) Never Steady, Never Still (Tennessee Premiere) – A mother struggles to take control of her life in the face of advanced Parkinson’s disease, while her son battles his sexual and emotional identity amongst the violence of Alberta’s oil field work camps. Cast: Shirley Henderson, Théodore Pellerin, Mary Galloway, Nicholas Campbell, Jared Abrahamson, Hugo Ateo, Lorne Cardinal, Director: Kathleen Hepburn. Producers: James Brown, Tyler Hagan (Canada) Noblemen (Tennessee Premiere) – A 15-year-old boy, struggling with his adolescent years, is terrorized by a gang of bullies in a posh boarding school. This sets forth a chain of events that leads to a loss of life and innocence. Cast: Kunal Kapoor, Ali Haji, Director: Vandana Kataria, Producers: Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vikram Mehra (India) Still (Tennessee Premiere) – When Lily loses her way on a hike through the Appalachian wilderness, she finds rescue in the form of a peculiar married couple who have completely isolated themselves from the outside world. Cast: Lydia Wilson, Madeline Brewer, Nick Blood, Mark Ashworth, Kevin Wayne, Diesel Madkins, Director: Takashi Doscher, Producers: Alex P. Creasia, Takashi Doscher, Craig Miller, Gabrielle Pickle (USA) The Swan (Southeast US Premiere) – A wayward nine-year-old girl is sent to the countryside to work and mature, but finds herself instead deeply entangled in a drama she can hardly grasp. Cast: Thor Kristjansson, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Þuríður Blær Jóhannsdóttir, Gríma Valsdóttir, Katla M. Þorgeirsdóttir, Director: Ása Helga Hjörleifsdótirr, Producers: Birgitta Bjornsdottir, Hlín Jóhannesdóttir (Iceland)Graveyard Shift Competition
Door In the Woods (Tennessee Premiere) – A struggling family installs a vintage door only to find it’s a portal to supernatural danger, leading to a heart wrenching choice. Cast: Jennifer Pierce Mathus, David Snell, C.J. Jones, John-Michael Fisher, Director: Billy Chase Gofort, Producers: Kerri Elder, Blake Elder, Billy Chace Goforth (USA) Found Footage 3D (Tennessee Premiere) – A group of filmmakers set out to make the first 3D found footage horror movie, but find themselves in a found footage horror movie when the evil entity from their film escapes into their behind-the-scenes footage. Cast: Carter Roy, Alena von Stroheim, Chris O’Brien, Director: Steven DeGennaro, Producers: Steven DeGennaro, Kim Henkel, Charles Mulford (USA) Get My Gun (Tennessee Premiere) – After an innocent prank leaves Amanda pregnant and out of a job, she finds herself on the verge of motherhood and the target of a psychotic stalker who will stop at nothing to get her hands on her unborn child. Cast: Kate Hoffman, Christy Casey, Rosanne Rubino, William Jousset, Director: Brian Darwas, Producer: Jennifer Carchietta (USA) Katrina’s Dream (US Premiere) – Katrina wishes to have children but her boyfriend Louis doesn’t. She falls in love with his best friend Ron, who becomes the man of her life. When the two men are involved in a car accident in which Ron loses his head and Louis his body, a drastic surgery helps them survive, but merged into one person. Cast: Dagna Vinet Litzenberger, Manfred Liechti, Adrian Furrer, Simon Esteban, Directors: Mirko Bischofberger, Dario Bischofberger. Producers: Mirko Bischofberger, Dario Bischofberger (Switzerland) The Laplace’s Demon (Nashville Premiere) – Eight people are imprisoned in a secluded mansion on an uninhabited island. After waiting in vain for the host, they find a model with eight self-propelled pawns that reproduces the movements of each group member in real time. Cast: Alessandro Zonfrilli, Carlotta Mazzoncini, Silvano Bertolin, Duccio Giulivi, Walter Smorti, Director: Giordano Giulivi, Producers: Silvano Bertolin, Ferdinando D’Urbano, Duccio Giulivi, Giordano Giulivi (Italy) Mickey Reece’s Alien (Southeast US Premiere) – Elvis Presley struggles with an existential meltdown before his TV comeback special. Spirituality, space, and divine art clash in his marriage to Priscilla and his obligations to those surrounding The King. Cast: Jacob Snovel, Cate Jones, Director: Mickey Reece, Producers: Jacob Snovel, Cate Jones, Mickey Reece. (USA) The Odds (Southeast US Premiere) – A young woman enlists in an underground game of pain endurance in the hope of winning the million dollar prize. She soon learns the real opponent is the man who’s running the game, as he employs horrific methods to manipulate and defeat her. Cast: Abbi Butler, James Fuertes, Sean Ramey, Les Parker, Katie Gunn, Director: Bob Giordano, Producers: Tom Steinmann, Kelly Frey, Alan McKenna (USA) PROTOTYPE (Southeast US Premiere) – As the deadliest natural disaster in US history strikes Galveston, Texas, taking an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 lives, a mysterious televisual device projects images of unknown origin. Director: Blake Williams, Producer: Marco Gualtieri (Canada) Zerzura (Southeast US Premiere) – ZERZURA is a feature-length ethnofiction shot in the Sahara desert. Mixing folktales and documentary, the film follows a young man from Niger who leaves home in search of an enchanted oasis. Cast: Ibrahim Affi, Zara Alhassane, Ahmoudou Madassane, Director: Christopher Kirkley, Producer: Christopher Kirkley, Rhissa Koutata, Ahmoudou Madassane, Guichene Mohamed (Niger|USA)
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RBG, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Docu to Open 2018 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival | Trailer
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg in RBG by Betsy West and Julie Cohen[/caption]
RBG, the acclaimed documentary celebrating the life and lasting influence of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the opening night film of the 37th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.
Charting Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life through growing up in Brooklyn, RBG shows Ginsburg pursuing her education, falling in love, her friendship with the late Justice Antonin Scalia and eventual appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court. A fighting force, Ginsburg’s determination throughout her life and career has earned her the title of “notorious” both in politics and the wider public discourse. As a history-making public figure, Ginsburg has become “notorious” through her championing of women, her ever-persistent work ethic, and her commitment to democracy. Program: Special Presentation, Women & Film. Directed by Julie Cohen, Betsy West. USA. 2018. English. 97 min. Documentary Feature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biIRlcQqmOc
In addition to the the opening night film, the festival selected the Women & Film and Spotlight on the World: Chasms and Bridges titles.
WOMEN & FILM
MSPIFF’s showcase female directors from around the globe and a short list of this year’s many titles includes: Sofia Djama’s The Blessed (from Algeria), Vivian Qu’s Angels Wear White (China) and Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not A Witch (Zambia). THE BLESSED (LES BIENHEUREUX) In postwar Algiers, Amal and Samir are a middle-aged couple hoping to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. Drifting through their day, they eventually find themselves at a restaurant. Here, they confront their differences and disillusionment, threaded with the unsettled atmosphere of postwar society. Outside, their teenaged son Fahim and his friends, Feriel and Reda, spend their day on the streets of Algiers. They too reveal ideological differences among them, their banter soon leading to the reveal of hidden wounds left by the Algerian Civil War that shaped their current world. Program: Images of Africa, Women & Film. Directed by Sofia Djama. Algeria, Belgium, France. 2018. Arabic, French w/English subtitles. 102 min. Narrative Feature. ANGELS WEAR WHITE (JIA NIAN HUA) Xiaomi, a motel cleaner, watches as a district-commissioner checks in alongside two girls, Xiaowen and Xin Xin. On the surveillance monitor, Xiaomi sees the commissioner push his way into the girls’ room, and she decides to record the event with her smartphone. In the wake of the assault, Xiaomi’s story does little good for the girls as they face their unconcerned families and a society that would rather put the blame on them than offend their attacker. Program: Asian Frontiers, Women & Film. Directed by Vivian Qu. China, France. 2018. Chinese (Mandarin) w/English subtitles. 107 min. Narrative Feature. I AM NOT A WITCH Shula is young woman accused by an older woman of being a witch. Adorned with a spindle to “tether” her to the ground and carted off to a camp for witches that bares little difference to your standard zoo, Shula is then forced to perform her “magic” for a corrupt official. Rungano Nyoni’s debut feature-film renders Shula’s journey by exploring themes of femininity, superstition and acceptance, while also keeping Shula herself a mystery to all the spectators that attempt to control her world. Program: Images of Africa, Women & Film. Directed by Rungano Nyoni. Zambia, UK, France. 2017. English. 90 min. Narrative Feature.CHASMS AND BRIDGES: CINEMA AND THE SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND
The 2018 MSPIFF Spotlight on the World is Chasms and Bridges: Cinema and the Search for Common Ground. Tackling the lines that divide us and the dramatic potential for reconciliation and compassion, this special series of titles and related panel discussions and workshops, are designed to open up conversations on the social and ideological divides and shifting social order shaping our world today. Such stories can be found in fiction: A Syrian outsider finds both love and bigotry in Finland (A Moment in the Reeds); a powerful business woman comes face-to-face with the glass ceiling (Number One) ; upper and middle classes collide in Iran as a minor accident turns into major tragedy (No Date, No Signature). And non-fiction: Delve into the day-to-day life of radical Islamist family (Of Father and Sons); see the 2016 US election from the Russian perspective (Our New President); take a frustrating look at the corruption inside the NYPD (Crime + Punishment). A MOMENT IN THE REEDS (TÄMÄ HETKI KAISLIKOSSA) After moving to Paris for university, handsome literature student Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi’s father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and spend a few days discovering one another during the Finnish midsummer. Program: Midnight Sun, LGBTQ Currents, Spotlight. Directed by Mikko Makela. Finland, UK. 2017. English, Finnish w/English subtitles. 108 min. Narrative Feature. NUMBER ONE (NUMÉRO UNE) When Emmanuelle, an executive in a French energy firm, reaches the glass ceiling, but refuses to recognize her limited options. For years she has refused to acknowledge the sexism inherent in her workplace, but when chauvinistic male colleagues work to undermine her rise in the ranks, Emmanuelle pulls out all the stops in an attempt to capture what is rightly hers. Program: World Cinema, Women & Film, Spotlight. Directed by Tonie Marshall. France. 2017. French w/English subtitles. 110 min. Narrative Feature. OF FATHERS AND SONS The roots of home run deep in Talal Derki’s latest eye-opening feature. Returning to his homeland of Syria, documentary filmmaker Derki encounters Abu Osama and his family. Masqurading as a jihadist sympathizer, Derki integrates himself into the household of Osama, an Al-Nusra Front member. Program: World Cinema, Spotlight. Directed by Talal Derki. Germany, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar. 2018. Arabic w/English subtitles. 99 min. Documentary Feature. OUR NEW PRESIDENT In this era of fake news v. real news, acclaimed documentarian Maxim Pozdorovkin has crafted a startling cine-essay, pulling together footage from the 2016 election from YouTube, Russian-government run RT, and other sources to dig deep into the propaganda machine that may ultimately have altered the U.S. Presidential election. Program: World Cinema, Spotlight. Directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin. Russia, USA. 2017. English, Russian w/English subtitles. 77 min. Documentary Feature. CRIME + PUNISHMENT Shocking and true, Crime + Punishment explores the internal corruption of the New York City Police Department and the undeniably racist system that has persisted well past early revelations. Back in 2013, a group of 12 police officers had dared to take the NYPD to court for the corruption, but the case’s federal hearing did not lead to reform. Cut to 2017, and director Stephen Maing reconnects with the police officers who first took a stand, to find them more determined than ever to speak out against the continued injustice. Program: New American Visions, Spotlight. Directed by Stephen Maing. USA. 2018. English. 112 min. Documentary Feature NO DATE, NO SIGNATURE (BEDOONE TARIKH, BEDOONE EMZA) While on his way home from work, forensics doctor Dr. Kaveh Nariman is nearly hit by a reckless driver and in the chaos hits a motorcycle carrying Moosa, Leila, and their children. Moosa and Leila are uninjured, along with their daughter, but their young son, Amir Ali, appears to have a concussion. Brushing off a hospital visit, Kaveh and the family go their separate ways, only for the latter to discover the next day that one of the incoming bodies at the morgue where he works is Amir. Fellow colleague Dr. Sayeh Behbahnani deduces that the boy’s death was due to botulism caused by eating cheap chicken, but Nariman remains convinced that it was the motorcycle accident that ultimately caused it. Program: World Cinema, Spotlight. Directed by Vahid Jalilvand. Iran. 2017. Farsi w/English subtitles. 100 min. Narrative Feature.
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2017 London Film Festival Unveils Lineup of 242 Feature Films + 128 Shorts
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)[/caption]
The 61st BFI London Film Festival today announced its full program, featuring a diverse selection of 242 feature films including 46 documentaries, 6 animations, 14 archive restorations and 16 artists’ moving image features. The program also includes 128 short films, and 67 countries are represented across short film and features.
Alongside the Galas, Special Presentations and films in Competitions, the Festival will show a range of new cinema in sections aka strands titled Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Experimenta and Family. In 2017, the LFF debuts a new strand, Create, featuring films that celebrate artistic practice in all its channels and forms the electricity of the creative process, reflecting London’s position as one of the world’s leading creative cities.
Audiences will have the opportunity to hear some of the world’s creative leaders through the Festival’s acclaimed talks’ series LFF Connects, which features artists working at the intersection of film and other creative industries, and Screen Talks, a series of in-depth interviews with leaders in contemporary cinema. Participants this year include Julian Rosefeldt & Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, Demis Hassabis, Nitin Sawhney, Johan Knattrup Jensen, Ian McEwan and Takashi Miike.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Robin Campillo, 120 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) Vivian Qu, ANGELS WEAR WHITE Majid Majidi, BEYOND THE CLOUDS (World Premiere) Nora Twomey, THE BREADWINNER (European Premiere) Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, GOOD MANNERS Xavier Beauvois, THE GUARDIANS (European Premiere) Andrew Haigh, LEAN ON PETE Andrey Zvyagintsev, LOVELESS Azazel Jacobs, THE LOVERS (European Premiere) Warwick Thornton, SWEET COUNTRY Cory Finley, THOROUGHBRED (International Premiere) Annemarie Jacir, WAJIBFIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
Daniel Kokotajlo, APOSTASY Léa Mysius, AVA Michael Pearce, BEAST (European Premiere) Ofir Raul Graizer, THE CAKEMAKER Gilles Coulier, CARGO Kogonada, COLUMBUS Rungano Nyoni, I AM NOT A WITCH Léonor Serraille, JEUNE FEMME Ana Asensio, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND Carla Simón, SUMMER 1993 Hlynur Pálmason, WINTER BROTHERS John Trengove, THE WOUNDDOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Maryam Goormaghtigh, BEFORE SUMMER ENDS Elvira Lind, BOBBI JENE Arash Kamali Sarvestani, Behrouz Boochani, CHAUKA, PLEASE TELL US THE TIME (International Premiere) Radu Jude, THE DEAD NATION Shevaun Mizrahi, DISTANT CONSTELLATION Frederick Wiseman, EX LIBRIS – THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Agnès Varda, JR, FACES PLACES Austin Lynch, Matthew Booth, GRAY HOUSE Brett Morgen, JANE (European Premiere) Lucy Cohen, KINGDOM OF US (World Premiere) Emmanuel Gras, MAKALA Sonia Kronlund, THE PRINCE OF NOTHINGWOODSHORT FILM AWARD
Gabriel Abrantes, THE ARTIFICIAL HUMORS Phil Collins, DELETE BEACH Billie Pleffer, FYSH (International Premiere) Anna Cazenave Cambet, GABBER LOVER Karishma Dube, GODDESS Aegina Brahim, LAWS OF THE GAME Jonathan Vinel, MARTIN CRIES Patrick Bresnan THE RABBIT HUNT Moin Hussain, REAL GODS REQUIRE BLOOD Kibwe Tavares, ROBOT & SCARECROW Kazik Radwanski, SCAFFOLD Harry Lighton, WREN BOYS (World Premiere) The Festival program is organized in strands: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Family, Treasures and Experimenta.LOVE
The Love Gala is the European Premiere of Dominic Cooke’s quietly heart-breaking film debut ON CHESIL BEACH. Saoirse Ronan and rising actor Billy Howle star as a young couple in the early 1960s struggling to physically connect on their honeymoon, impeccably adapted for the big screen by Ian McEwan from his own Man Booker-shortlisted novela. Other highlights in this section include: CLOSE-KNIT, Naoko Ogigami’s quietly subversive and emotionally rich portrait of a transwoman whose maternal feelings are stirred by the arrival of her boyfriend’s 11-year-old niece; THE GROWN-UPS, Maïte Alberdi’s tender and bittersweet documentary portrait of Chileans Anita and Andres, who have Down’s syndrome and are very much in love; the World Premiere of Carlos Marques Marcet’s ANCHOR AND HOPE, a London-set story about modern love and family featuring Oona Chaplin; John Cameron Mitchell’s cosmic ride HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES, sees aliens have landed in 1970s Croydon in a funny, energetic love story starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman; the World Premiere of JOURNEYMAN, features Paddy Considine following up his acclaimed debut Tyrannosaur with the story of a boxer who must rebuild his life after a near-fatal injury; GOING WEST, a World Premiere from Norwegian newcomer Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken who delivers a sweetly delicious road movie; LET THE SUNSHINE IN, Claire Denis’ darkly witty drama starring Juliette Binoche as an artist caught up in a series of unsatisfying affairs, and David Gordon Green’s rousing yet devastating true-story drama STRONGER featuring a remarkable performance by Jake Gyllenhaal as a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing.DEBATE
This year’s Debate Gala is Samuel Maoz’s FOXTROT, a film that combines thrilling cinematography with superb performances, and highlights the absurdities of conscripted service. Debate also includes: BIRDS ARE SINGING IN KIGALI, Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze’s hard-hitting drama about the intertwined lives of two refugee survivors reeling from the impact of the Rwandan genocide and containing powerful central performances; the World Premiere of THE CLIMB, Michael Woodward’s debut documentary that charts Greenpeace’s daring all-female team that illegally ascended The Shard in protest against petroleum giant Shell’s plans to dig for oil in the Arctic; the World Premiere of THE FORGIVEN, Roland Joffé’s political drama starring Forest Whitaker as Desmond Tutu and Eric Bana as Piet Blomfeld, asking how far we can go in forgiving past crimes; the World Premiere of ISLAND, Steven Eastwood’s haunting and deeply moving documentary combining observational footage with contemplative shots of the costal landscapes of the Isle of Wight, and set among terminally ill cancer patients, and THE VENERABLE W., Barbet Schroeder’s disturbingly illuminating portrait of Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, who was known for espousing anti-Muslim hatred.LAUGH
This year’s Laugh Gala is Noah Baumbach’s THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED). A stellar cast give uniformly excellent performances, including Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Elizabeth Marvel and Emma Thompson. Through the madcap antics of a neurotic, failure-obsessed clan, Baumbach surfaces bigger questions about how to value family and the meaning of success. Laugh also includes: the World Premiere of Adrian Shergold’s FUNNY COW, which contains a formidable performance from Maxine Peake as an aspiring stand-up comic confronting her violent husband and the sexist Northern England club circuit; INGRID GOES WEST, Matt Spicer’s jet-black stalker comedy brilliantly skewers dangerous obsession and the sham of Instagrammed perfection with wicked and fearless performances from Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza; joy and grace flow out of Dustin Guy Defa’s observational comedy drama PERSON TO PERSON, starring Michael Cera as a reporter keen on quoting (his own) heavy metal lyrics; Daan Bakker’s QUALITY TIME is perfect for lovers of experimental and irreverent cinema offering a portmanteau selection of stories of male arrested development; and Henrik Ruben Genz’s WORD OF GOD is set months after the Chernobyl disaster and provides dark and dirty humour where pretty much nothing is off limits.DARE
The Dare Gala is François Ozon’s frisky new thriller, AMANT DOUBLE, a deliciously duplicitous tale of psychoanalysis and seduction that channels the spirits of Hitchcock and De Palma at their naughtiest and stars Jérémie Renier, Marine Vacth and Jacqueline Bisset. Other highlights in the strand include: Eliza Hittman’s BEACH RATS, a gripping investigation of repressed sexual desire in a hyper-masculine environment; Jon Garaño and Aitor Arregi’s touching drama GIANT, set in 19th century Spain and based on the true story of Mikel Jokin Eleizegi, allegedly the tallest man of his time; Semih Kaplanoğlu’s spellbinding dystopian sci-fi, GRAIN in which climate change has caused the nearextinction of human life; Liu Jian’s adult animé HAVE A NICE DAY, a biting, bone-dry satire on contemporary Chinese social mores and featuring plenty of bloodthirsty Tarantino-esque genre thrills; the European Premiere of Bornila Chatterjee’s THE HUNGRY, which reworks Shakespeare’s bloody Titus Andronicus into a macabre modern tragedy set in Northern India; Barbara Albert’s resplendent drama MADEMOISELLE PARADIS, based on the true story of Maria Theresia ‘Resi’ von Paradis, a gifted blind musician and contemporary of Mozart, paraded through Vienna’s courts to perform; Jean Libon and Yves Hinant’s jawdropping and extraordinary documentary SO HELP ME GOD, which details the work of an unorthodox Belgian judge Anne Gruwez as she tackles gruesome crimes, domestic violence and other sordid cases; and WESTERN, director Valeska Grisebach’s contemporary western in which tensions mount between German construction workers and Bulgarian villagers in a small rural town.THRILL
This year’s Thrill Gala is Takashi Miike’s savage and inventive action thriller, BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL, based on the famous manga series by Hiroaki Samurai about a samurai cursed with immortal life and has the distinction of being Miike’s 100th feature film. Thrill also features: the European Premiere of Nattawut Poonpiriya’s Thai teen thriller BAD GENIUS, in which young brainiac Lynn uses a very special set of skills to cheat on behalf of her classmates in the high-stakes world of entrance exams for elite international universities; the European Premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s THE BRAWLER in which a young and talented Indian boxer dreams of being champion, but is knocked sideways when he falls for the niece of the man blocking his road to success; Aaron Katz’s GEMINI in which a heinous crime tests the complex relationship between a tenacious personal assistant, Jill played by Lola Kirke and her Hollywood movie star boss Heather played by Zoë Kravitz; the Safdie brothers’ latest film GOOD TIME features Robert Pattinson as a small-time New York criminal, who after a bank robbery goes seriously wrong, devises a plan to spring his injured accomplice from police custody; Jennifer Peedom’s spectacular documentary MOUNTAIN, is a mind-blowing symphony of images and sound chronicling the powerful attraction mountains hold over us; love, crime and action combine in a taut and twisty thriller-cum-romance in Michaël R. Roskam’s RACER AND THE JAILBIRD starring Adèle Exarchopoulos as Bibi, a young racing driver and Matthias Schoenaerts as Gigi the Jailbird, a dashing playboy with, it seems, time and money to burn; Ian Nelms and Eshom Nelms’ blackly comic, crime noir, SMALL TOWN CRIME (European Premiere) stars John Hawkes as alcoholic former cop Mike, channelling a drunk Columbo who embarks on his own unofficial crime investigation while Octavia Spencer plays his supportive sister Kelly who is starting to lose patience with Mike’s lying, drifting and drinking; and the International Premiere of Xin Yukun’s sophisticated arthouse thriller, WRATH OF SILENCE featuring martial arts maestro Song Yang, as a mute bruiser who returns to his home, a remote farming village, following the disappearance of his son. With tight plotting, memorable characters and an unforgettable climax, director Xin Yukun establishes himself as a new international filmmaker you need to know.CULT
The Cult Gala is Joachim Trier’s subtle shocker THELMA, a supernaturally-tinged tale of a young woman’s macabre coming of age. Other titles in the strand include: S. Craig Zahler’s genre-bending, bone-crunching exercise in slow-burn suspense, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, starring Vince Vaughn as a former boxer-turned mechanic involved in a drug deal that goes wrong that sees him behind bars; the walking dead get a second chance at life in David Freyne’s debut THE CURED starring Ellen Page in an inventive and surprising post-zombie era drama where a cure has been found for the infected and the rehabilitated are transitioned back into society; the World Premiere of Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s GHOST STORIES in which they bring their hit London stage play to the big screen, with suitably chilling results. Nyman plays Phillip Goodman, an academic and professional sceptic out to debunk claims of the supernatural , but when he stumbles across a long lost file containing three unsolved cases of the Occult, his whole belief system – not to mention his sanity – is thrown into question; LET THE CORPSES TAN is directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s adaptation of JeanPatrick Manchette’s influential 1971 crime novel and the result is a sun-drenched Western-tinged, crimecaper; MY FRIEND DAHMER is director Marc Meyers’ adaptation of John Backderf’s revered graphic novel and is an unnerving portrait of one of America’s most prolific murderers, Jeffrey Dahmer; and Paco Plaza’s much-anticipated new horror film, VERONICA, inspired by an actual unsolved case in Spain and a no-holds barred supernatural shocker.JOURNEY
This year’s Journey Gala is Todd Haynes’ new film WONDERSTRUCK, an enthralling adaptation of Brian Selznick’s acclaimed young adult novel. Featuring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in supporting roles alongside a gifted young cast, Oakes Fegley and newcomer Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actress making her film debut, it is both a whimsical children’s film for adults and a refreshingly grown-up film for children. Other Journey titles include: Arshad Khan’s ABU, a compelling documentary about a young Pakistani man’s difficulties in coping with migration and the resultant cultural change, his emerging sexuality and an increasingly orthodox father; Iraqi filmmaker Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji’s THE JOURNEY, a taut, thoughtprovoking thriller that tackles what might just be the final moments of a potential suicide bomber’s life; David Batty’s stylish documentary MY GENERATION, presented and narrated by Michael Caine, playfully explores the impact of Britain’s working class cultural revolution in the 1960s and features a wealth of archive footage and a spot-on soundtrack from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who, which makes for an exhilarating journey back in time; the European Premiere of Egyptian director Amr Salama’s SHEIKH JACKSON, a bittersweet and poignant tale of an Islamist preacher experiencing a crisis of faith following the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson; Marc J. Francis and Max Pugh’s fascinating and immersive exploration of mindfulness, WALK WITH ME, featuring narration by Benedict Cumberbatch, follows the daily rituals and routine of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and offers a rare insight into life within a monastic community; and the World Premiere of THE WHITE GIRL, where debut director Jenny Suen collaborates with legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle on an intoxicating and textually rich film.CREATE
The brand new Create strand channels the electricity of the act of creation, celebrating artistic expression in all its forms. The inaugural Create Gala is Michel Hazanavicius’ REDOUBTABLE, an audacious, multi-layered biopic of French cinema’s most notorious director, Jean-Luc Godard. Also in Create: Greg Kohs’ ALPHAGO the story of how Google’s DeepMind team took on Go world champion Lee Sedol, posing questions about whether computers can think creatively and whether there is an algorithm for intuition; the World Premiere of THE BALLAD OF SHIRLEY COLLINS, Rob Curry and Tim Plester’s portrait of one of the great British folks singers who mysteriously lost her voice in 1980; G-FUNK tells the story of how three childhood friends from East Long Beach Warren G, Snoop Dogg and the late great Nate Dogg, transformed hip-hop into a global phenomenon and changed the world; the World Premiere of William Badgely’s HERE TO BE HEARD: THE STORY OF THE SLITS is a riveting film about the game-changing and largely female feminist punk band; Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s LOVING VINCENT is a stunning, fully painted animated feature created in the style of Van Gogh’s paintings matching extraordinary style with richly satisfying storytelling, broadcast live from the National Gallery to cinemas nationwide; and Julian Rosefeldt’s MANIFESTO starring Cate Blanchett as thirteen different characters in this energetic tribute to artistic troublemakers.FAMILY
Showcasing films for the young, as well as the young at heart the Family Gala is THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES, an outstanding, laugh-a-minute animation from Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert, the team behind Ernest & Celestine (LFF 2012, Family Gala) and is guaranteed to appeal to adults as much as it will to children. Other highlights include Chang-yong Moon and Jin Jeon’s beautifully made documentary BECOMING WHO I WAS about a young monk Padma Angdu, who is said to be the latest incarnation of a religious teacher, known as a Rinpoche, and his attempts to reach the home he had in a former life; Xuan Liang and Chun Zhang’s visually breath-taking Chinese animated fantasy, BIG FISH & BEGONIA is as near to the best of Studio Ghibli as you’re likely to find anywhere; Meikeminne Clinckspoor’s family adventure CLOUDBOY is about 12- year-old Niilas who is sent away against his wishes to spend the summer with his estranged mother in Swedish Lapland, among the indigenous reindeer herding Sami people; and winner of the top prize at this year’s Annecy Animation Film Festival, Masaaki Yuasa’s anime LU OVER THE WALL brings human and merfolk together with surprising outcomes. This funky, upbeat tale is full of energy, features cute ‘merdogs’, musical mermaids and a giant humanoid shark and has a really cool soundtrack. This section also includes a program of animated shorts for younger audiences which bring together eclectic, exciting and colourful films from all around the globe.TREASURES
The Treasures selection brings recently restored cinematic classics from archives around the world to the Festival in London. The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of the silent film SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA (1928), a ravishing, romantic tale based on the story of the 17th century Mughal ruler Shah Jahan, his queen and the building of the world’s most beautiful monument to love, the Taj Mahal. Directed by Franz Osten, based on a play by Niranjan Pal and starring and produced by Himansu Rai, the film was shot entirely in India and performed by an all-Indian cast. Other highlights include the World Premieres of the 4K restoration by Sony Pictures Entertainment of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946); the digitally remastered experimental documentary FRANTZ FANON: BLACK SKIN WHITE MASK (1996), directed by artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien, as well as the new 4K restoration, by The BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation, of Terry Gilliam’s first feature as a solo director, JABBERWOCKY (1977). The Festival will also screen the 4K restoration of Toshio Matsumoto’s FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (1969), a wild, kaleidoscopic vision of the underground scene in 1960s Japan and a significant influence on Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Italian genre-master Dario Argento’s eye-popping slice of technicolour terror, SUSPIRIA (1977) with stunning 4K restoration.EXPERIMENTA
Experimenta features films and videos by artists who transform our experience of seeing moving images. Highlights include: the World Premiere of Benedict Seymour’s DEAD THE ENDS, a politically urgent retelling of Chris Marker’s La Jetée bookended by the 2011 London riots; ERASE AND FORGET, Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s film is an excavation of the influence of fiction on truth in the American imagination of warfare and gun culture; the World Premiere of LEK AND THE DOGS, Andrew Kötting’s account of the ultimate outsider uses a range of visual styles derived from avant garde and genre cinema, and Kevin Jerome Everson’s TONSLER PARK uses an unobtrusive observational style to divulge the mechanisms behind the operation of Election Day at polling stations in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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48 Films from International Filmmakers Among Contemporary World Cinema Slate of 2017 Toronto International Film Festival
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Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak)[/caption]
The Contemporary World Cinema slate of the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival will feature 48 titles from international filmmakers, that covers disparate regions of the world with a strong presence from Latin America, Scandinavia, and Central Europe.
“Each film in Contemporary World Cinema offers a much-needed look at another part of the world through the eyes of a storyteller embedded in that culture,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of TIFF. “Taken together, these four dozen films invite us all to expand and deepen our picture of the world.”
The Contemporary World Cinema program is being bolstered with a series of 23 World Premieres, among them Argentinian filmmaker Diego Lerman’s A Sort of Family, South African Khalo Matabane’s The Number, Iraqi Mohamed Jabarah Al-daradji’s The Journey, Finnish Teemu Nikki’s Euthanizer and Australian actor Simon Baker’s directorial debut, Breath. The program also highlights an impressive selection of films that have captivated audiences worldwide, including Félicité by Alain Gomis and the animated film The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales by Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert.
2017 Toronto International Film Festival Contemporary World Cinema Program
A Ciambra Jonas Carpignano, Italy/France/USA/Germany International Premiere A Sort of Family (Una Especie de Familia) Diego Lerman, Argentina/Brazil/France/Poland World Premiere Alanis Anahí Berneri, Argentina World Premiere Ana, mon amour Călin Peter Netzer, Romania/Germany/France North American Premiere Angels Wear White (Jia Nian Hua) Vivian Qu, China/France North American Premiere April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril) Michel Franco, Mexico North American Premiere Arrhythmia Boris Khlebnikov, Russia/Finland/Germany North American Premiere Beyond Words Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands/Poland World Premiere Birds Without Names (Kanojo ga Sono Na wo Shiranai Toritachi) Kazuya Shiraishi, Japan World Premiere Breath Simon Baker, Australia World Premiere Dark is the Night (Madilim ang Gabi) Adolfo Alix Jr., Philippines World Premiere Directions (Posoki) Stephan Komandarev, Bulgaria/Germany/Macedonia North American Premiere Disappearance (Verdwijnen) Boudewijn Koole, Netherlands/Norway International Premiere Euthanizer (Armomurhaaja) Teemu Nikki, Finland World Premiere Félicité Alain Gomis, France/Senegal/Belgium/Germany/Lebanon North American Premiere Good Favour Rebecca Daly, Ireland/Belgium/Denmark/Netherlands World Premiere Hannah Andrea Pallaoro, Italy/Belgium/France North American Premiere Insyriated Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium/France/Lebanon Canadian Premiere Life and nothing more Antonio Méndez Esparza, Spain/USA World Premiere Longing (Gaagua) Savi Gabizon, Israel North American Premiere Looking for Oum Kulthum Shirin Neshat, Germany/Austria/Italy/Lebanon/Qatar North American Premiere Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak) Mouly Surya, Indonesia/France/Malaysia/Thailand North American Premiere Miami Zaida Bergroth, Finland International Premiere Motorrad Vicente Amorim, Brazil World Premiere Nina Juraj Lehotský, Slovakia/Czech Republic North American Premiere On Body and Soul Ildikó Enyedi, Hungary North American Premiere Samui Song (Mai Mee Samui Samrab Ter) Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand/Germany/Norway North American Premiere Sergio & Sergei (Sergio & Serguéi) Ernesto Daranas Serrano, Spain/Cuba World Premiere The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales (Le Grand Méchant Renard et autres contes) Benjamin Renner, Patrick Imbert, France North American Premiere The Insult (L’Insulte) Ziad Doueiri, France/Lebanon Canadian Premiere The Journey (Al Rahal) Mohamed Jabarah Al-daradji, Iraq/United Kingdom/France/Qatar/Netherlands World Premiere The Lodgers Brian O’Malley, Ireland World Premiere The Number Khalo Matabane, South Africa World Premiere The Royal Hibiscus Hotel Ishaya Bako, Nigeria World Premiere The Summit (La Cordillera) Santiago Mitre, Argentina/Spain/France North American Premiere Tulipani, Love, Honour and a Bicycle Mike van Diem, Netherlands/Italy/Canada World Premiere Under the Tree (Undir Trénu) Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, Iceland/Denmark/Poland/Germany International Premiere Veronica (Verónica) Paco Plaza, Spain International Premiere Wajib Annemarie Jacir, Palestine/France/Germany/Colombia/Norway/Qatar/United Arab Emirates North American Premiere Western Valeska Grisebach, Germany/Bulgaria/Austria North American Premiere Previously announced Canadian titles in the Contemporary World Cinema programme include Simon Lavoie’s The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond Of Matches, Adam MacDonald’s Pyewacket, Kyle Rideout’s Public Schooled, Ingrid Veninger’s Porcupine Lake, Mina Shum’s Meditation Park, Robin Aubert’s Les Affamés, Pat Mills’ Don’t Talk to Irene, and Tarique Qayumi’s BLACK KITE. The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7 to 17, 2017.
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2017 Venice Film Festival Unveils Official Lineup Featuring George Clooney, Darren Aronofsky and More
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Suburbicon[/caption]
The Venice Film Festival today revealed the official lineup of films for the 74th edition of the festival taking place August 30 to September 9, 2017. The in-competition lineup features films Mother! by Darren Aronofsky, Suburbicon by George Clooney, and Downsizing by Alexander Payne.
Venezia 74
International competition of feature films, presented as world premieres AI WEIWEI – HUMAN FLOW Germany, USA, 140’ DARREN ARONOFSKY – MOTHER! USA, 120’ Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Ed Harris GEORGE CLOONEY – SUBURBICON USA, 104’ Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Noah Jupe, Oscar Isaac GUILLERMO DEL TORO – THE SHAPE OF WATER USA, 119’ Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Octavia Spencer ZIAD DOUEIRI – L’INSULTE France, Lebanon, 110’ Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Rita Hayek ROBERT GUÉDIGUIAN – LA VILLA France, 107’ Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gérard Meylan, Jacques Boudet, Anaïs Demoustier, Robinson Stévenin ANDREW HAIGH – LEAN ON PETE United Kingdom, 121’ Charlie Plummer, Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny ABDELLATIF KECHICHE – MEKTOUB, MY LOVE: CANTO UNO France, Italy, 180’ Shain Boumedine, Ophélie Baufle, Salim Kechiouche, Lou Luttiau, Alexia Chardard, Hafsia Herzi KOREEDA HIROKAZU – SANDOME NO SATSUJIN (THE THIRD MURDER) Japan, 124’ Fukuyama Masaharu, Yakusho Koji, Hirose Suzu XAVIER LEGRAND – JUSQU’À LA GARDE France, 90’ Denis Ménochet, Léa Drucker, Thomas Gioria, Mathilde Auneveux, Saadia Bentaïeb MANETTI BROS. – AMMORE E MALAVITA Italia, 133’ Giampaolo Morelli, Serena Rossi, Claudia Gerini, Carlo Buccirosso SAMUEL MAOZ – FOXTROT Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland, 113’ Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler, Yonatan Shiray MARTIN MCDONAGH – THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI United Kingdom, 110’ Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, John Hawkes, Peter Dinklage ANDREA PALLAORO – HANNAH Italy, Belgium, France, 95’ Charlotte Rampling, André Wilms ALEXANDER PAYNE – DOWNSIZING USA, 140’ Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, Kristen Wiig VIVIAN QU – JIA NIAN HUA (ANGELS WEAR WHITE) China, France, 107’ Wen Qi, Zhou Meijun, Shi Ke, Geng Le, Liu Weiwei, Peng Jing SEBASTIANO RISO – UNA FAMIGLIA Italy, 105’ Micaela Ramazzotti, Patrick Bruel PAUL SCHRADER – FIRST REFORMED USA, 108’ Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric Kyles WARWICK THORNTON – SWEET COUNTRY Australia, 112’ con Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, Hamilton Morris, Thomas M. Wright PAOLO VIRZÌ – THE LEISURE SEEKER Italia, 112’ Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland FREDERICK WISEMAN – EX LIBRIS. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY USA, 197’Out of Competition
Important works by directors already established in previous editions of the Festival JON ALPERT – CUBA AND THE CAMERAMAN [NON-FICTION] USA, 113’ GIANNI AMELIO – CASA D’ALTRI [SPECIAL EVENTS] Italy, 16’ RITESH BATRA – OUR SOULS AT NIGHT USA, 101’ Jane Fonda, Robert Redford DAVID BATTY – MY GENERATION [NON-FICTION] United Kingdom, 85’ Michael Caine ANTONIETTA DE LILLO – IL SIGNOR ROTPETER Italy, 37’ Marina Confalone ABEL FERRARA – PIAZZA VITTORIO [NON-FICTION] Italy, 82’ STEPHEN FREARS – VICTORIA & ABDUL United Kingdom, 149’ Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard WILLIAM FRIEDKIN – THE DEVIL AND FATHER AMORTH [NON-FICTION] USA, 68’ RACHID HAMI – LA MÉLODIE France, 102’ Kad Merad, Samir Guesmi, Renély Alfred, Youssouf Gueye TAKESHI KITANO – OUTRAGE CODA Japan, 104’ Beat Takeshi, Nishida Toshiyuki JERRY KRAMER – MAKING OF MICHAEL JACKSON’S THRILLER [SPECIAL EVENTS] USA, 45’ JOHN LANDIS – MICHAEL JACKSON’S THRILLER 3D [SPECIAL EVENTS] USA, 14’ Michael Jackson, Ola Ray FERNANDO LEÓN DE ARANOA – LOVING PABLO Spain, Bulgaria, 123’ Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard LUCRECIA MARTEL – ZAMA Argentina, Brazil, 115’ Daniel Giménez Cacho, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele, Juan Minujín DANIEL MCCABE – THIS IS CONGO [NON-FICTION] Congo, 91’ ERROL MORRIS – WORMWOOD USA, 300’ (TV series, 6 episodes) Peter Sarsgaard, Molly Parker, Christian Camargo, Scott Shepherd, Tim Blake Nelson, Bob Balaban STEPHEN NOMURA SCHIBLE – RYUICHI SAKAMOTO: CODA [NON-FICTION] USA, Japan, 100’ FRANCESCO PATIERNO – DIVA! Italy, 75’ Barbora Bobulova, Anita Caprioli, Carolina Crescentini, Silvia D’Amico, Isabella Ferrari, Carlotta Natoli, Greta Scarano, Anna Foglietta, Michele Riondino MICHAËL R. ROSKAM – LE FIDÈLE Belgium, France, Netherlands, 130’ Matthias Schoenaerts, Adèle Exarchopoulos CHRIS SMITH – JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND. THE STORY OF JIM CARREY, ANDY KAUFMAN AND TONY CLIFTON [NON-FICTION] USA, Canada, 90’ SILVIO SOLDINI – IL COLORE NASCOSTO DELLE COSE Italy, Switzerland, 115’ Valeria Golino, Adriano Giannini, Arianna Scommegna, Laura Adriani JAMES TOBACK – THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A MODERN WOMAN USA, 71’ Sienna Miller, Alec Baldwin, Charles Grodin, Colleen Camp, Carl Icahn GIOVANNI TOTARO – HAPPY WINTER [NON-FICTION] Italy, 91’ S. CRAIG ZAHLER – BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 USA, 132’ Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Don Johnson, Udo KierVenice Virtual Reality
Competitive section of VR films, with a selection of out-of-competition VR films NICOLÁS ALCALÁ – MELITA USA, 24’ (Animation) LAURIE ANDERSON, HUANG HSIN-CHIEN – LA CAMERA INSABBIATA USA, 20’ (Animation) GABO ARORA – THE LAST GOODBYE USA, 20’ LYSANDER ASHTON, LEO WARNER – MY NAME IS PETER STILLMAN United Kingdom, 6’ (Amimation) MATHIAS CHELEBOURG – ALICE, THE VIRTUAL REALITY PLAY France, 20’ Robin Berry, Josh Jefferies EUGENE YK CHUNG – ARDEN’S WAKE EXPANDED USA, 16’ (Animation) NONNY DE LA PEÑA – GREENLAND MELTING USA, 11’ GINA KIM – DONGDUCHEON (BLOODLESS) South Korea, USA, 12’ URI KRANOT, MICHELLE KRANOT – NOTHING HAPPENS Denmark, France, 14’ (Animation) MI LI – SHI MENG LAO REN (THE DREAM COLLECTOR) China, 11’ (Animation) RICHARD MILLS, KIM-LEIGH PONTIN – NEFERTITI United Kingdom, 15’ (Animation) RAFAEL PAVÓN, NICOLÁS ALCALÁ – SNATCH VR HEIST EXPERIENCE USA, 5’ Rupert Grint, Luke Pasqualino, Lucien Laviscount, Phoebe DynevorOrizzonti
A competition dedicated to films that represent the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in international cinema ALI ASGARI – NAPADID SHODAN (DISAPPEARANCE) Iran, Qatar, 89′ with Sadaf Asgari, Amir Reza Ranjbaran, Nafiseh Zare, Sahar Sotoodeh GILLES BOURDOS – ESPÈCES MENACÉES France, Belgium, 105’ with Alice Isaaz, Vincent Rottiers, Grégory Gadebois, Suzanne Clément NANCY BUIRSKI – THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR Usa, 91′ LUCIEN CASTAING-TAYLOR, VERENA PARAVEL – CANIBA France , 90′ SOFIA DJAMA – LES BIENHEUREUX France, Belgium, 102′ with Sami Bouajila, Nadia Kaci, Amine Lansari, Lyna Khoudri ANNE FONTAINE – MARVIN France , 115′ with Finnegan Oldfield, Isabelle Huppert, Grégory Gadebois, Vincent Macaigne PABLO GIORGELLI – INVISIBLE Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Germany, 87’ with Mora Arenillas, Mara Bestelli, Diego Cremonesi COSIMO GOMEZ – BRUTTI E CATTIVI Italy, France, 87’ with Claudio Santamaria, Marco D’Amore, Sara Serraiocco TZAHI GRAD – HA BEN DOD (THE COUSIN) Israel, 92′ with Ala Dakka, Tzahi Grad, Osnat Fishman AMICHAI GREENBERG – HA EDUT (THE TESTAMENT) Israel, Austria, 91’ with Ori Pfeffer, Rivka Gur, Hagit Dasberg Shamul, Ori YanivCinema nel Giardino
Films, talks, and visions DARIO ALBERTINI – MANUEL Italy, 97’ Andrea Lattanzi, Giulia Elettra Gorietti, Francesca Antonelli, Raffaella Rea RÄ DI MARTINO – CONTROFIGURA Italy, France, Morocco, Switzerland, 75’ Valeria Golino, Filippo Timi, Corrado Sassi, Nadia Kounda, Younes Bouab KATE MULLEAVY, LAURA MULLEAVY – WOODSHOCK USA, 116’ Kirsten Dunst, Pilou Asbaek, Joe Cole, Stephan Duvall BRUNO OLIVIERO – NATO A CASAL DI PRINCIPE Italy, Spain, 96’ Alessio Lapice, Massimiliano Gallo, Donatella Finocchiaro, Lucia Sardo, Antonio Pennarella MICHELE PLACIDO, ANDREA MOLAIOLI, GIUSEPPE CAPOTONDI – SUBURRA. LA SERIE Italy, 100’ Alessandro Borghi, Giacomo Ferrara, Eduardo Valdarnini, Francesco Acquaroli, Filippo Nigro, Claudia Gerini FRANÇOIS TROUKENS, JEAN-FRANÇOIS HENSGENS – TUEURS Belgium, France, 86’ Olivier Gourmet, Lubna Azabal, Kevin Janssens, Bouli Lanners